Prepare to be completely engulfed in the electronic soundscapes on Garden of Love, the fourth studio album from French duo Scratch Massive.
Inspired by a William Blake poem of the same name, the duo invite you into a sensory experience that encourages multiple interpretations.
Scratch Massive invite you into their sensory soundscapes on Garden of Love – prepare to be engulfed in the dualities of human emotions, fear and love.
Made up of Maud Geffray and Sebastien Chenut, the duo made their names known in French clubs in the early 00s as part of the “dance-floor revolution” – a time when the youth rebelled against uncertain times with music and killer dance moves.
Last Dance opens with a piano melody that quickly becomes disjointed as it oscillates between different rhythmic feels. A steady electronic beat comes in, followed by breathless female vocals.
You are lulled into the soft, gentle electro-spheres the duo effortlessly create, and before you know it, you’re onto the next song.
Numero 6 sucks you into a world shortly after someone else’s exit, leaving behind them void. Male vocals float in and out seamlessly as they explore how loneliness affords you the time required for true introspection.
Fantome X is darker and bass-heavy. The atmosphere is bizarre, almost unnatural, filled with strange melodic sequences and melodies that don’t completely resolve. Overall, the song leaves you with an eerie, uncomfortable feeling.
Dancer In The Dark is more minimalistic and invites you into its mystery, into the sense that something is a little bit off.
Then before you know it, you’re whisked away into the instrumental Chute Libre and its erratic rhythms that bounce off each other.
The atmosphere in Sunken is immediately brighter with its opening keyboard chords and Léonie Pernet’s vocals that make her sound as if she is talking down to us from a throne.
Mono Arch starts off like a typical dance-floor anthem and a tribute to the old days, but is underlined with something melancholic that gradually becomes more eerie the longer you listen to it.
Pray returns to the minimalistic sound we heard earlier, but is slowly built up with more rhythmic layers that create a dense soundscape.
Another Day is minimalist and more optimistic as it evokes a time of innocence, before the bittersweet Feel The Void closes off the album.
Garden of Love proves delightful, intriguing listening that displays greater finesse and tighter structures to 2017’s equally impressive Nuit de Rêve – this is definitely one you won’t stop spinning until you’ve listened to it at least three times through.
Listen to the album above.
