Juniore — Un, Deux, Trois — Album Review
Indie | Alternative | Experimental
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Un, Deux, Trois is the third album from French indie group Juniore, and my personal introduction to the band and their music.
I initially took interest in Juniore’s newest album through the buzz from my local record store, as well as the mystifying allure of the albums artwork. With this, I went ahead and listened to a few of the teaser tracks, those being “Bizarre” and “En solitaire”. Both of these tracks I found to be highly enjoyable, and they succeeded in putting their cosmic indie prowess forward to me.
I enjoyed the French lyricism in the case of Un, Deux, Trois, as I feel that my struggle to understand what the lyrics are addressing, hardly detracts from the enjoyment of the musical experience whatsoever. In fact, this album heavily reminded me of an earlier piece that I enjoyed thoroughly, that being Serol Serol’s self-titled debut, which had included songs sung in traditional Welsh.
The French feel doesn’t at all end with the lyrics however; the sophisticated, theatrical, and almost cabaret aesthetic feel consistent throughout the project, despite there being such a versatile selection of moods and energies to pick from with each of the given tracks.
And while I would still argue the album to stylistically be indie at its very core, there are a wide array of other musical elements that make it so much more interesting and enchanting than your run-of-the-mill indie record. With a heavy emphasis on psychedelia thrown in for good measure, the resulting piece is something that feels like a musical magic show, with all three members of Juniore presenting themselves as the instrumental wizards behind the reigns.
As well as being as much of an exciting project as it is, it also has a satisfying runtime of just under 40 minutes and a track-list of 11 songs in total, making it even more apparent that a tone of thought went into this third album. Out of these 11 tracks, there didn’t really seem to be any that wasn’t at least slightly enjoyable. There was only a minuscule amount of tracks on Un, Deux, Trois that felt slightly weaker than the majority of great singles.
I feel that the flow of the album is also pretty well thought out. While I may have rearranged only a few tracks on this thing, I feel that the album switches between upbeat and downbeat tracks expertly.
When all is said and done, if you are looking for something unique, exciting, and sophisticated, then look no further than this amazing album. Almost everything about it just seems to be so faultlessly executed. The aesthetic is incredibly strong, and it still feels both very accessible and highly memorable, despite the language barrier. This is an absolutely spellbinding project!
Favourite Tracks: Grave | En solitaire | Ah bah d’accord
Least Favourite Track: Drôle d’histoire
Le Phongraphe Editions
