White Hinterland describe their new EP, Luniculaire, as their “love letter to France, French music and the French language.” It might work fine as a love letter, but it doesn’t hold up so well musically.
The EP opens with a cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Requiem Pour un Con,” which White Hinterland make their own with a rotund bassline that sounds very similar to Blur’s “Moroccan People’s Revolutionary Bowls Club,” and a mess of noisy guitar squelches, which only serve to distract from Casey Deniel’s pretty vocals. On “Chant de Gillon,” Deniel and the rest of the band seem intent on pulling off a convincing a Bjork impression. Later, Brigitte Fontaine’s “J’ai 26 Ans” gets completely transformed into a bizarre Middle Eastern folk song. They’re gutsy experiments that never quite pay off.
The remaining two songs fare better because the band sticks to a simple, jazzy sound that fits the material more comfortably, but they’re not enough to pull the EP together. Like a true love letter, Luniculaire is sincere but messy, and only really makes sense to the writer and the object of their devotion.
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