Newly formed synth-chanson duo Polygone are launching their career with an EP, “Par Hasard”. Released via Irascible on 24 February 2023, the title – “by accident” – refers to the accidental nature of the meeting of these two artists, although, of course, they won’t tell you how it actually did happen. Be that as it may, Hugo Dordor is a super-busy member of Lausanne’s extensive musical community, playing drums for a variety of outfits including Minus One, Your Fault and Potlach. Pauline Bongard’s background, in contrast, is hazy. Fact is, shortly after their first meeting, she showed Hugo Dordor some of the lyrics she had written. He liked what he saw and decided to try and compose a musical setting to match the mood of each lyric. “Par Hasard” collects together five such “moods”, with the individual songs dealing with such diverse matters as superstition and tarot (“Grimoire”), the freedom of birds in a world which constantly diminishes this freedom (“Oiseaux”) and anxieties of all kinds (“Cache Cache”).