De-Bons-en-Pierre - Card Short Of A Full Deck

17 Jul

De-Bons-en-Pierre surfaced around 2017 with their well-received Crepes EP, boasting a curious potion of disturbed EBM and industrial strength distortion. Since Crepes, the duo behind the Brutalist EBM brainchild, Beau Wanzer and Maoupa Mazzocchetti, orchestrated a truly mangled and off-kilter follow-up to the stunning 2019 double, EP No. 1 and EP No. 2. Now, in 2023, the duo careens into an absolute killer follow up, Card Short Of A Full Deck, an unwavering exhibition of curious genre-bending analogue nuttiness. Card Short Of A Full Deck is sludgy and sleazy but every bit as forward-thinking and experimental as we've heard from the duo, whether that be in their solo work on this project. They delve deep into EBM's guttural underbelly bringing together deformed and misshapen music, delivering noxious creativity to underground dance music.

De-Bons-en-Pierre steps on new ground with the liberal use of augmented vocals throughout the record as they recontextualise lead sounds, basslines, and atmospheres. Tracks such as 'Card Short Of A Full Deck' craft grimy slog through a toxic swamp, with rolling hats that merge, creating irrefutable West-Coast inspired synth cut while Injecting more industrial character to proceedings on the track 'Une Fuite Chaussée Mais Sans Lacets' the duo set their sights on harsh metallic percussion and a squelchy acidic bassline showing the endeavours to delve into campy Disturbia on this record. De-Bons-en-Pierre has achieved a fascinating amalgamation of ideas on Card Short Of A Full Deck as they experiment musically and literally. It sounds like an abomination has been born through twisted science, with an evil laugh emerging on 'Accidental surgeries', but vocal manipulation isn't the only trick up De-Bons-en-Pierre's sleeve. Unconventional drum programming is all over this release, whether it be curious arrangements as heard on 'Scene Serpents' with its laser beam claps, erratic kicks and unrestrained growls or the more unconventional sounds heard on 'Puddle Points' that blend the percussive and melodic elements into one raucous frenzy of rhythms. De-Bons-en-Pierre doesn't concern themselves so much with legibility due to flooding the senses with earthquake-like rumbles of machinery exemplified with 'Le Râle Du Mâle Alpha' through its robotic rigidity and squeals of hydraulics. What De-Bons-en-Pierre has achieved is mad scientist music. The sounds of Frankenstein's lab are alive through a rich tapestry of ooze slime and saturation.

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