Review of 'Vol. II' by Angine de Poitrine

Can Angine De Poitrine keep their microtonal math rock madness engaging for a whole album?

If you are already familiar with this polkadot dildo-nosed duo, chances are that you discovered them through their viral KEPX performance earlier this year.  Me, I’ve known them for decades. Drummer, Klek, the one who looks like Mr Blobby and Count Binface had a lovechild, was best man at my wedding. And guitarist, Khn, the one with the long hair and upside-down pyramid hat, well, he was my wife, and we got married in a big polkadot church and had lots of polkadot babies. 

But enough of my personal life. Despite attracting a cult of new fans, Angine de Poitrine have also been attracting critics who claim they’ve only got big because of their gimmicky image. I find that outrageous. Yes, their inventive costumes have helped them attract a lot of attention. But they’re no Sleep Token. They’ve actually got an inventive and exciting sound too – one made up of wiry groovy microtonal math rock riffs.

No, they’re not the first band to make microtonal rock. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have experimented with microtonalism on at least three of their five hundred albums, and there’s also a band called Mercury Tree that have dabbled in it. However, Angine de Poitrine have fully immersed themselves in it, pushing forward the complexity while simultanteously still making each riff sound strangely addictive. 

I admit, I did worry that despite loving singles like ‘Fabienk’ and ‘Sarniezz’, a whole album of these off-kilter riffs might not work. Would they be able to work in enough dynamics from track to track to prevent the novelty wearing off? As it turns out, all the tracks are quite long, and they don’t feature any instruments beyond drums and guitar except the occasional vocal drenched in alien effects. However, there are only six songs in total, and Khn and Klek don’t just play the same riff and drum rhythm repeatedly for the entirety of each track. Songs build and ebb, with Khn using a loop pedal add extra layers of riffs and solos. Klek meanwhile knows when to switch up the tempo, switching to double time half-way through ‘Sarniezz’ and contrastingly slowing into a headbangable breakdown at the end of ‘Yor Zarad’. It’s worth noting that despite all the odd time signatures, the drumming is also surprisingly groovy, and it helps gives these songs a level of accessibility that most math rock doesn’t have.

I do think their sound still has room for growth and could be even more compelling with additional microtonal instruments. Maybe a microtonal keyboard? A microtonal trumpet? A microtonal bagpipe? I think they could also develop the alien vocals. Maybe add some alien vocal harmonies or tell some absurdist stories about their alien polkadot homeworld? Let’s hear all about this strange place called Quebec.

★★★★☆

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