L’Eclair Drifting With the Clouds
After a bit of a stylistic reshuffle, the Genevan groove merchants L’Eclair remerge with their fourth album via the Los Angeles-based record label, Innovative Leasure (Allah-Las, Badbadnotgood, Alex Maas, etc.).
The expat Bulgarian co-founders, brothers Stef Lilov (guitar/keyboards) and Yavor Lilov (drums), appear to have taken over the running of the band from other members who continue to play with them. There is also a new face in the photos, singer/keyboardist Inès Mouzoune, who also runs her own band, Roshani, and has popped up all over Geneva with outfits like Cyril Cyril, Anami and Sami Galbi. You may well wonder: L’Eclair with a singer? Oh, it’s not just one, it’s several! Alongside the permanently integrated Mouzone, we also get to hear some guest vocalists, including Siifu, Gelli Haha and Girl Named GOLDEN. A trip by the two Lilovs to the achingly hip Total Refreshment Centre in North London yielded some extra recordings with a harpist, a string quartet and a choir. The overall sound, meanwhile, has ditched a few of the nostalgic 1950s easy listening elements to become more resolutely 21st century. Suffused with a laid-back exotica vibe, the dance beats may rattle along at a fast and electronic pace, and yet they feel dreamy enough to justify the psychedelic album title.
