IN LOVE WITH A GHOST FEAT. ECHO – FUSIONAL

I dunno how or I can't remember how I stumbled across Parisian singer-songwriter ECHO – it was a while ago. I followed her on Twitter, occasionally checking her SoundCloud; all I know is that she's good. For instance, you may want to check out her Midnight Chronicles EP, released recently on French label Cosmonostro.

Called 'Fusional' it is a creation of fellow Parisian In Love With A Ghost, a purveyor of substantially chilled sounds – as you can instantly tell from the endlessly arpeggiated harp sounds at the beginning of this track. But as soon as the robust beat drops, thick with bass and the crack-rasp of snare, it becomes a different beast: an odyssey of cool plucked ambience, like a fresh breeze, paired with the stifling heaviness of trap-inspired beats, a soothing yet spooky adventure through musical phantasms.

And of course there is the voice of ECHO, singing with an endearing lilt and layered with a pitch-shifted equivalent that follows her like a murky shadow. Her brisk delivery has an almost rap-like air to it, following a simple melody, evoking calm-faced ghosts singing with otherworldly beauty; it's hard not to like the way she sings "So many clouds above me…" or "I want to free myself from this / I'm so in love with a lie" – and with that sludgy low-end doppelganger layer almost growling beneath, it's perfect for this track.

It comes from In Love With A Ghost's aptly named Love Ghost EP, something that lives up to its title – in the same way that 'Fusional' does it, these four songs demonstrate not only phantomatic vibes but also those of styles often used in songs of love and lust, think R&B slo-jams distorted, played backwards through haunted apartment blocks, and you're pretty much there. It feels sad, but it also feels accepting of that sadness – a nice mix.

• Download this song on a name-your-price basis from In Love With A Ghost's Bandcamp (CLIIIICKY CLICKY).

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STROMAE TOUS LES MÊMES

Well now. This is interesting. I didn't know who this guy was until I googled him – is that bad? Who cares. I just saw that somebody shared the video on Twitter and I watched it and was not only intrigued by the video itself but also, and of course otherwise I wouldn't be writing this, by the music. Anyway if you can't read what I'm probably going to say in a tweet about this post, nor the title of this post, then I suppose the right thing to do is to say this is Stromae with 'Tous Les Mêmes'.

Yeah, it's a Francophone song. Everything about it is in French. If that scares you, I'm sorry; if not, then that's good. But who is Stromae? Well, you may remember a pretty funky nocturnal dance number called 'Alors On Danse' from 2010 that was like, huge everywhere – that was his song. He's called Paul Van Haver and he's from Belgium and he writes and sings songs. What else do you want to know? Have a look at Wikipedia for that. All I know is that this video is a strange and entertaining display of a man, Stromae, seemingly living the best – or worst? – or both worlds with lashings of jaunty choreography.

As for this song, it's a swing-infused tune that features the smooth, slightly melancholic vocals of Stromae singing about men being "all the same" ("tous les mêmes") in essence. There's a Latin lilt to it, in the subtly moody chords of the piano and the sweaty brass sounds that give it a bolshy kind of cabaret atmosphere, a hint of fierceness in its syncopated rhythms and a whole dose of electro-funk slo-house feel, thanks to that nicely understated, overlapping-itself bassline and the lush beat with its unbeatable claps. Catchy and destined for dancefloors and radio play (probably) all over Europe, this is a classy song from a pretty unique musicmaker.

This, btw, comes from Stromae's most recent album, Racine Carrée (that's 'Square Root' in English).

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