Cri du Chat / “Cri du Chat” / Self

Literally means “cat cry”, also the name of a genetic disorder. Hmm. French-Canadian shoegaze with airy female vocalist (lyrics in French). One of those embarrassing moments when I think I like something more because it’s in a foreign language and sounds cool. Kind of a neat mashup of nice distorted, grungy indie-rock shoegaze with French chanson. Nice 90s feel to it, angsty but bored. Songs don’t adhere to traditional structures, so feel a bit hard to remember.

No FCCs detected, but I don’t speak (no stinkin') French.
Favorites: 2, 6, 9


1. 5:42 Midtempo, distorted synths and guitars, grungy feel with wispy female vocals.
2. *5:54 Strong bassline. Strangely disjoint “chorus”, of vocals going high to a unique melody, then back to regular basic chords/distortion. Chorus keeps me coming back.
3. 6:06 Slightly atonal, lots of chord/tempo changes
4. 4:21 Ethereal synths in beginning, eerie, melodic throughout.
5. 7:46 Midtempo, vocals almost lost in guitar distortions, until very cool spacey chorus/bridge. Wish that melody were more central.
6. *5:50 Cool rigid, almost robotic beat. Moody, jangly synth instruments.
7. 5:07 Starts off with cool beat, but kind of devolves to typical sound.
8. 5:32 Echoey piano over synth, downtempo, typical sound ensues.
9. *6:54 Synth bass, slow sweeping percussion, clean guitar, sparse piano. Builds with distortion, stays soothing while strong. Voice is a bit like Blonde Redhead here.
Deniz Cebenoyan