Music: Petite Noir – The King of Anxiety EP

Noir Wave is a thing, or at least it is according to twenty something Yannick Ilunga. And if he’s right, you’d file the likes of Toro Y Moi and Twin Shadow into this category, and of course the music of Petite Noir.

Over the course of 5 tracks, The King of Anixety leaps across multiple genres in the space of less than half an hour but thankfully and rather impressively never sounds cluttered, jumbled or confused. In fact it has such a preciseness and pacing to it that gives the EP a feel more like an LP. For example ‘Til We Ghosts’ could be mistaken for Holy Fire era Foals’ second coming complete with oriental rhythm an cooed vocals offset in the background while ‘Shadows’ has the arrangements and machine-like timing paired with a pop/soul heart that made SBTRKT a household name.  Vocally Ilunga can range from a deep, almost mumbled drawl to a soaring chorus on a moment’s notice that compliments the record’s indefinability.

The King of Anxiety truly has everything every brilliant debut album has, except enough songs so in the mean time we’ll just have to be patient for that. But if this EP is anything to gauge the future by, it’ll be worth the wait.

The King of Anxiety is out now on Domino Records.

Matthew Cooper

I try to write knowledgeable things about music. Everything else I get quite annoyed about. Arsenal fan. Terrible swimmer.