Etienne Jaumet – La Visite

As half of French duo Zombie Zombie, Etienne Jaumet has found himself increasingly drawn into the world of film scores – whether covering the greats, as on Zombie Zombie Plays John Carpenter, or creating new accompaniments, as with Narimane Mari’s 2013 film, Loubia Hamra. However his first solo record, Night Music, was produced by Carl Craig, and for this long-awaited successor Jaumet eschews Zombie Zombie’s cinematically-minded expanse for a streamlined, techno-influenced sound. Opener Metallik Cages places a marker early doors, Jaumet murmuring over a handful of quivering spacey constructs.

There’s something of Kraftwerk in how Anatomy Of A Synthesizer sees Jaumet methodically uttering the functions of his own machine over a scribble of robotic transmissions; but the record really unfurls when, on Moderne Jungle, he revisits the full-blooded saxophone that’s recently appeared as part of James Holden’s live band, to unshackle the track from the rest of the album’s foundations – towards an ultimately boundary-free space where Jaumet has always been his most comfortable.