While a bit scattered, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul manages to put forth insightful commentary and danceable tunes with balance, grace, and humor along the way.
When it comes to political topicality, especially when infused in dance and pop music, it will be a tough aspect to deliver those themes in a way that will cut through its listeners as the dance grooves and rhythms will grab the attention of their toes rather than the topic slithering through their minds. And it gets even more difficult if the writing doesn’t lend the insight, the bite, or the proper framing to shuffle and slap the listeners back to reality, and with the situations of political and extreme social media ‘woke culture’ at the forefront, artists who want to parse through this topic will need to push even further and get more clever.
A good spot for this discussion is the debut record of Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul. Both paired together several years ago when the Deewee brothers connected Charlotte with Bolis during a writer’s block situation on the making of the Soulwax soundtrack of the movie ‘Belgica’. Ever since that link, both Charlotte and Bolis have been making music together, notably with the EP they have in 2019 that mixes slick electronic grooves paired with Agidery’s sleek performance. Their artistic trajectory moves a step further with their debut LP this year, Topical Dancer.
Like what the album title suggests, it’s a record that presents a dancy, groovy soundscape with a topical backdrop that includes racism, misogyny, woke culture, and more. Snapping the political focus with humorous stabs and melodic electronics that at first glance might not stick, but manages to deliver its insight as it goes for the attack in a subtle yet deadly blow. ‘Topical’ is the best descriptor in the writing here, as the record focuses on pointing out not just politic-centric topics, but other topics that may act as subtext but still do connect in the overall scope. Songs like ‘Esperanto’, ‘Blenda’, ‘Hey’, ‘It Hit Me’, and ‘Thank You’ is direct towards pointing out the demoralizing experiences that Charlotte and Bolis have as immigrants in a country that still has its conservative and ignorant strains, but there are songs that reach out on other topics but still feels connected as a whole. Like ‘Ceci n’est pas un cliche’ that makes fun out of usual pop-culture cliches, ‘Ich Mwen’ focuses on motherhood as Charlotte was pregnant during the making of the debut LP, ‘’Huile Smisse’ that makes fun of how french people love to hear themselves speak in french, ‘Reappropriate’ that focuses on embracing femininity and womanhood, ‘Mantra’ that centers on letting loose amidst self-doubt in a place that still discriminates people, and ‘Making Sense Stop’ which is a clever message towards embracing the silence and speaking less after going through such rough spots which in this context, dealing with racists, bigots, and xenophobes.
And towards the ‘Dancer’ part of the record, it mostly delivers thanks to a well-balanced mix, chock full of groovy and hooky melodies, and synth tones that are brimming with organic swells and warm touches. ‘Ceci n’est pas un cliche’ showcases a dry guitar that soon blooms into a shuffling groove, ‘It Hit Me’ with its industrial grit that keeps getting sharper as it cuts through after the verses, ‘Reappropriate’ with its twittering synth lines, ‘Mantra’ with the stomping robotic synth work on the chorus, and ‘HAHA’ that has a laughing sample synced up with the moving beat.
But as much as the record thematically and musically serves a potent amount, it does suffer from being scattered in both aspects. Thematically, the political aspects paired with the subtexts make sense to encapsulate Charlotte and Bolis’ experience of them now and how they find themselves protective of their future. But it comes off a bit patchy, especially when there could’ve been more of the political jabs and the introspection to bring it home. And musically, some of the songs feel a bit lacking in modulation or there could’ve been more opportunities to amp up the melodic flair of the synthesizers that will keep the listeners on their toes.
For a record that tries to point out the flaws of societies towards discriminated people without coming off as a bit extreme, serious, or moralizing, Charlotte Adigery and Bolis Pupul have put enough quality ideas towards topical insights and dancy production. It can get all over the place with the themes, melodic progression, and production work. But these two had enough fun to ensure that even if we all do have fun, we may also need to be conscious while feeling so.
Favorite Tracks: Esperanto, Reappropriate, Ceci n’est pas un cliche, Thank You, Blenda, It Hit Me, Mantra
Least Favorite Track: Huile Smisse