En Attendant Ana - Principia

 

The third album from Parisian five piece, En Attendant Ana, out now from Trouble in Mind Records

Pre-covid, remember those halycon days. En Attendant Ana released one of 2020's best albums in the January of that year, Juillet. While a ray of sunshine in the winter months before the world went indoors, the album was highly recommended and appeared on many a critic's list come the end of the year.

The quintet re-emerge from a period of hibernation with their third album released on Trouble in Mind records, Principia is a fine album and extension of their work as they grow themselves as a band and as people.

Starting off with the title track, Principia is a work of observation at a world changing as we stand still. The dynamics of relationships are explored and the individual's place within this society. Fronted by a female vocalist - Margaux Bouchaudon - whose voice is at times both haunting but harmonious; the album swoons with this permanent mood of French cote warmth washing over the album.

Best track is Wonder, a near six minute single that probably wears the motifs of the band most proudly - rhythmical and repetitive with a probing bassline that worms into your ears and stays with you. This is indicative of the album opener also -  yet the song speaks to the artist fearing themselves as an imposter and that person's place in the world.

The album feels cinematic, and while many references have been made to Stereolab, the band they remind me of most is Belle and Sebastian - a band that is culturally aware, self-reflexive and intelligent.

The album speaks to the personal but expressed through the universality of finding a reason for existing following the uncertainty of this post-Covid world, where the world got a bit smaller and yet we all seem a bit more distant from each other. There is a yearning in some of the songs for simpler times, perhaps that of 2019 when they wrote the music for Juillet, and yet they know the band must know that they must move forward unknowingly in this new world yet sounding defiant and true to themselves.

For fans of indie pop with a European too-cool-for-school shoegaze, this album is a must and already one of the best of this year. Expect it to be around at the end of year round ups come December, but for now bask in the glorious sunny delights from En Attendant Ana.

Principia is out now on all platforms via Trouble In Mind Records

My thanks to them and One Beat PR for the review opportunity.