Roger 3000 - Reste Envie

Remember that short and sweet 7" serving of quixotic electronica from Lawrence Le Doux and Roger 3000 from late 2021? Here's Roger 3000 again, this time standing alone with a first long player for Futura Resistenza. It's another left turn from a label that's been dominating the deck the past few months - this isn't the downhome jazz intimacy of Selanta + Topu, nor the art haus stridency of Arthur Chambry. Instead we've a strangely mournful collection of introverted bedroom confessionals that might have once been the reserve of Vini Reilly ala Circuses and Bread or perhaps some lost version of Dan Treacy had he hitched his wagon to Virigina Astley and headed for the mainland. At other times, i'm put in mind of mid 90s Chicago, most obviously the Sea and Cake, purring synths and winding guitars circling in a heathaze fog, 10 minute long closer Derrière Tes Yeux Bleus a particularly billowing soft-focus mass of motorik psychedelia. Perhaps the first sign that sad boy summer is nearly upon us again. There's been far worse soundtracks for it. Nice album cover, too.