The Auteurs
New Wave

THE REVIEW

Luke Haines, the indisputable leader of the Auteurs, is another highly underrated figure, lost as he is now in the history of Brit-pop, even though his vision and writing did not belong at all to the optimism and sunlight of 90s Brit-pop.

Just listen to 'New Wave,' the first and perhaps most representative album by the Auteurs, the decadent, dark, oppressive atmospheres manage to cage these pop songs, giving them a differing, unsettling, dirty interpretation.

Haines retains the melodic taste of the best Albion songwriters, but every word is pronounced as if with a malevolent and melancholic sneer, like a fallen star. Indeed, the lyrics are filled with "stars" that are worn out, destroyed, fallen from grace, with half-failed characters. These songs taste of rooms with unmade beds and beer bottles on the floor, of waking up at noon with no memories of what happened the night before.

It is a world of light and shadow. Lights often distant, lost in a past that will not return, and present, inevitable shadows. The guitars are full of repressed power, and Haines' voice is a grimace of disdain as in "Idiot Brother," one of the best tracks on the album. But it can also become sweeter in the little gem "Junk Shop Clothes" ("...will get you nowhere...") or even ironic in Valet Parking ("I'm sick of parking cars...").

In short, a record to rediscover, commendable both in terms of lyrics and musical components.