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Album review


Tahiti 80

The Past, The Present & The Possible


Paris 

21/02/2011 - 

After breaking away from their record label, the members of Tahiti 80 have come up with a new album, The Past, The Present & The Possible, where guitars kowtow to electronic effects. The resulting sound is dark at times with a new wave edge.

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Each new Tahiti 80 album sounds a bit like a reaction to the one before. Their last album, Activity Center, conveyed some of the group’s live atmosphere, with its simplified arrangements and raw sounds. Their new opus, The Past, The Present & The Possible, has done away with the inseparable bass-drum duo construction and only makes sparing use of the guitar.

The addition of two musicians, Julien Barbagallo and Raphaël Léger, has swelled the group’s ranks and added new life to the Rouen-based quartet formed fifteen years ago. British post-punk rock and new wave glide throughout the album, with accents of Squeeze and Wire.

The track Darlin’ sounds like a Soft Cell number reworked soul-style by Gloria Jones, Solitary Bizness takes us to the Mancunian scene of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, and Crack Up could come from the same place, but with a Chemical Brothers feel to it. Psychedelia is never far away.

And yet, The Past, The Present & The Possible has a dark side to it. “It’s our fifth album, and we’ve got older and have different concerns. It’s a strange period for making music, with the recording industry in crisis but more and more people consuming music,” observes Xavier Boyer, the lead singer. Which explains the amicable split between Tahiti 80 and its record house (Universal Music). The group have created their own label, Human Sounds, with a nod to the Beach Boys – an independence made possible largely thanks to their never-ending success in Japan. 


Darlin'

 
 

 

Tahiti 80 The Past, The Present & The Possible (Human Sounds/Discograph) 2011.

Live performances on 22 March 2011 in Tokyo, 7 April at the Bataclan (Paris), 16 April at the Grand Mix (Tourcoing), 3 May in Munich, and 6 May in Berlin.


Nicolas  Dambre

Translation : Anne-Marie  Harper