Article in Rolling Stone (France).
We'd left them sitting side by side on their four-poster bed, a young, urban and decidedly hype couple, straight out of a fashion shoot for a trendy magazine or a Wes Anderson film. We've also known since Friendly Fire that Sean Lennon was an undeniably gifted musician and composer who now wisely prefers the anonymity of a band (with his girlfriend, model Charlotte Kemp Muhl) in order to escape an overwhelming heredity. His self-proclaimed eclecticism - from the soundtrack of an arty film to his participation in Mom's Plastic Ono Band via a few stints with The Flaming Lips - tended to muddy the waters. But while his last album, The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, with its deliciously accoustic tones, was fondly remembered, no one expected him - or them, we should say - to make an album on the level of this totally psychedelic Midnight Sun, which is likely to shake many an audience. "Charlotte had only just heard 'Strawberry Fields Forever' when I met her," he once said of Kemp. It's reasonable to assume that she's had a refresher course or two since then, even if Midnight Sun is in no way, if not subconsciously, a Revolver/Pepper's pastiche with which the term "psychedelic", given Lennon's family tree, might be associated.
While the opening track, "Too Deep", may bring to mind some of the neo-planing rock of the late Oasis, it's the young guard (Temples, Tame Impala etc.) who are to blame. From "Xanadu" onwards, and especially the impressive "Animals", the case takes a completely different turn: The GOASTT's ambitious, unbridled compositions, with their often complex harmonies and structures, clearly rival the great pop goldsmiths of their time ("Last Call", "Poor Paul Getty"), as confirmed at the end of this kaleidoscope-like sonic trip by the almost seven-minute grandiose "Moth to A Flame", the real bravura piece of the record. Admittedly, here and there we'll find reminiscences of his illustrious father's first band (here, an upside-down guitar loop, there a pinch of slide, the vocal grain, especially troubling in the chorus parts). But above all, it's Sean's (and his partner's) artistic dimension that reveals every note of this strangely fascinating record.
Vinyl, Album, Label : Chimera Music - No. XVIII, 2022
Vinyl condition: MINT
Condition of cover: MINT, w/ hype sticker
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We use disc images for reference only. Please note that the photos shown are for reference only. Please refer to our legend to fully understand the condition.
