Released February 27, 2020
9 / 10
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People, I've been sad, Nada, La vita nuova (feat. Caroline Polachek)
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Héloïse Letissier created a subtle and profoundly thought out EP, refining her brand of melancholy-imbued art pop. "La vita nuova" is earnest in its endeavor to travel beyond the confines of Chris' fanbase by taking on its own spin on Dante's oeuvre in 2020. On it, she sings in no less than 4 different languages, grounding her work in the universal and drawing parallels left and right. Dante's "La vita nuova" is presented as the focal inspiration for the EP, a medieval piece combining prose and verse on the subject of a love marked by nobility and chivalry. Through the character of Beatrice, Dante transcends beauty into the divine, and centers his conception of love on virtue rather than the self. On the EP, the title track is the most obvious nod to Dante - beyond its title! It's the only track featuring verses in Italian (sung both by Chris and Caroline Polachek). Set on a backdrop of vibrating synth, it's the perfect marriage of two of the contemporary voices at the helm of the alt-pop glory days. Caroline, true to herself, shows little restraint as both navigate complex feelings that go with self-destructive behaviors and seeing the forest for the trees. The song opens with the bold (roughly translated) "I want you to touch me with your rage" and closes with a truly haunting laugh; in "La vita nuova" passion makes you insane, fury and euphoria are one and the same. It's probably not a coincidence that the most ardent passages are in a foreign language, leaving the more tame and melancholic parts more accessible to her audience: short-lived passion doesn't translate as easily as slow-burning grief. "La vita nuova" sets the perfect stage for exploring the duality of love and fame, seeing yourself through the prism of others and the handling of the resulting relationship with the self. Opener People, I've been sad is candid from its first words: Chris has been struggling to put her wellness first. She explains that this inability dates back to her adolescence and her very own growing pains. The bilingual lyrics work well and the music fills up the space just right, with the help of slow percussions and wistful strings. The track leads to the up-tempo Je disparais dans tes bras (sister track to English version I disappear in your arms - bonus) that takes on toxic relationships, where the other side keeps taking without giving, not having to live with the consequences of their action - surely alluding to the public and their fleeting conditional love. The background shouts take some getting used to but I find them to be a nice dynamic addition to the mix. Production on this has clearly been tailored and stripped down to the bare minimum to achieve maximal effect. The heavy electronic percussions - similar to Beyoncé's "Sweet Dreams" - sound like a storm brewing, in line with the lyric "Ce matin, je regardais le ciel et les oiseaux volent bas" (~"This morning, I was looking at the sky and birds are flying low") - according to popular belief, birds fly lower before bad weather. As Chris faces her demons, much of her singing reads like a conversation with herself. On the beautiful Nada, she sounds like she's answering herself at times, talking over herself at others, before a masculine voice enters the conversation. The voice could be the outside barging in, making it harder to formulate clear thoughts and deliberating without exterior interference. This impression of interference is made stronger by the scratchy percussions and the very brief electronic shuffling that run through the track. Chris isn't able to break through, running on the spot, spewing nothings into thin air. All in all, "La vita nuova" is fragile and tender while also feeling very controlled and guarded - emotions guided the creation of the EP without enslaving it in the process.
Favorite lyrics
"Tu crois gagner dans les pleurs de l’autre, la marque du roi Et tu brilles déjà fort sur ma peau, cet or c’est toi"
Je disparais dans tes bras
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