Last year, Pierre Rousseau (ex-Paradis) released another beautiful EP, “Mode Par Défaut,” a follow-up to his wonderful 2020 release, “Musique Sans Paroles.” Like his first solo EP, “Mode Par Défaut” is an all-synth work, showcasing the inventiveness and gift for melody that Rousseau has shown throughout his career. The difference between the two EPs is one of mood, to my ears—where “Musique Sans Paroles” seemed mostly playful and positive, airy and convivial, “Mode Par Défaut” has a slightly harsher tone, a little more abrasive and a little more serious. There’s a pronounced texture—reminiscent of harder 90s/00s Warp Records sounds, like the machined noises of Autechre or Aphex Twin or some of the queasier tones of Boards of Canada—that appears on this record that sets it apart from Rousseau’s first EP.
“Maladresse,” my favorite song on the album, has some of that shifting/quivering BOC tone. It starts off sounding like a pleasant lullaby, with a bright, pulsing phrase, and then Rousseau grows and complicates the melody with other buzzing, mosquito-like tones in the background, as that initial phrase repeats, transforms, becomes subsumed by a burst of glittering notes around the 3-minute mark, and drops out completely into a brief lull of garbled, staticy voices. In the final two minutes, that main phrase is overwritten momentarily by a soaring solo, and then returns, stately and stable, for the last minute. Gorgeous song.