4 out of 5

Label: Araki, Burning Sound Records, Clou, Donnez-Moi Du Feu, Epicericords, Et Mon Cul C’est Du Tofu?, Gnougn Records, Jarane, Rita Distro, Tandori

Produced by: L’Austral (Chafouin); Lapin (Lapin, mixed by); de Dan (Lapin, mastered by)

Sure, in the middle of a long run of arty, exciting, and experimental albums of indie / kraut- / mathrock and other herky-jerky (yet poppy?) permutations, the delightfully varied Chafouin team-up with fellow genre-breakers Lapin for a split LP of utter delights, the former band doing a kind of more focus La Colonie des Vacancies smash of noise; the latter a particularly French, angular spin on Yamantaka // Sonic-Titan choral sturm and drang. Now you either threw up 100 times from how obnoxious all this sounds, or you’re heading over to bandcamp immediately to give all this weirdness a spin. I would, of course, encourage the latter: Chafouin has a magical ability to turn a lot of generally wanky indie rock traits of artifice into something very organic and, despite all the terms I threw out, consistent – it’s very humble; and Lapin are a great surprise to me, introduced via this split but providing a really gorgeous take on noise pop on their solo record – sort of the more daring direction I’d hoped The Luyas would have taken.

This split flows together well between the two acts, as they play in a kind of similar-sounding high-end range, with a heavy emphasis on beat and melody; at the same time both sides’ tracks also work independently as whole experiences. Chafouin give their low end a much deeper, fuzzier kraut aspect than usual (normally that crops up as interstitial dirges; here, the bass underpins everything), and layers in guitars and whatever else in a mesmeric mélange that nonetheless spits out tracks representing singles. Chafouin are just kinda kings at straddling that line between feeling random but precise, and this split is a very heads-down version of that – the sounds feel especially grounded.

Lapin, as mentioned, effect a bit of performative, Y//S-T style pomp, but by similarly layering in guitars and keys and kind of backgrounding the vocals, it’s not as directly “sing-along” as Y//S-T invites, adding a layer of mystery that fits with Chafouin’s relatively (for them) darker tones.

Just a really unique record all around, constantly shifting and providing new sounds but with enough definition that you can walk out humming along.

So, hm, that all sounds positive, but I see the rating is missing a beat…? Right, well, I went and picked up Lapin’s album based off of this split, sight unseen, only to realize – moments after purchase – that all of the songs on this split are from that release. They’re arguably slightly recontextualized, as there are songs inbetween them on the full album, but the overall order of the tracks matches. But wait: if the Lapin songs aren’t unique, what about the Chafouin tracks? Yeah, not those either. I own a lot of Chafouin albums, so I didn’t give it a second thought (especially given how well the two bands sync up here), but indeed: every song here is from their Désolé De Vous Le Dire album – yeah, alright, that’s the name of the first track, sue me for not knowing their discography offhand – and there’s no recontextualization: same tracks, same sequence, the album just has two more songs at the end.

That means: had I owned that album, I would have felt pretty burned by this purchase. Yes, it led me to Lapin, which is great, but I’m also essentially double-dipping on music there as well. Depending on how / when you come across this release will determine how effective it is; I have to give it credit of my initial experience, but lowering the rating in acknowledgement of my after-the-fact discoveries.