Comme ci (comme ça)
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[5.14]
Iain Mew: Cool, calming, recognisable especially when it slows down, but it’s like “Bouquet Finale” with the edges sanded off, pleasurable but newly disposable.
[6]
Micha Cavaseno: The problem with being an electronic act that attracts attention when one deliberately goes backwards is, when you inevitably want the career to keep going and maintain success, you then move forward and chase after everything that’s already happened. Everything here production-wise is the kind of tricks that’ve been done to death in the last decade and now just feel like someone desperately out of step, hurrying to catch up to things most of the world have already left behind.
[3]
Alfred Soto: Its precision impressed me, its callback to Adamski’s “Killer” pleasant. The vocal is innocuously coy. More like hier et puis.
[4]
Ryo Miyauchi: The glassy synth is a very tactile one, delightfully prickly as it pokes the wonkier sound. It refuses to explore a grander path — something I initially wanted from what I think could’ve been more showy — but maintaining shape seems to be the point. Focus is key here as Yelle reminds herself again and again to cut the noise and stop thinking ahead. Stillness is harder to achieve than it looks these days.
[6]
Anthony Easton: Buoyant enough to remind me of the best summers in Montreal, with a nice break away chorus near the end, but could do with a bit more energy.
[6]
Ramzi Awn: There’s nothing wrong with cutesy, but in this case, a little editing could have turned less into much more.
[4]
Will Adams: A recurring theme in Yelle’s work is the passage of time — specifically, its end — and while “Ici et Maintenant” doesn’t have the gravitas of “S’éteint le soleil” or “Dire qu’on va tous mourir,” it makes sense given its desire to be in the moment. Where their last album went for shiny, Dr. Luke pop, “Ici et Maintenant” revives the playfulness of sound from Safari Disco Club. Most effective is how, amidst all the cute Fisher Price synths, the song itself takes the time to slow down and take in the present, as if knowing it won’t last forever.
[7]