Bix Medard: Y Dress?
Bix Medard are a Brussels based electropop duo. At times trip hop, post punk, new wave, electro, the initial feel of their album Y-Dress? is that they are dabbling in all music bases without actually grabbing any particular genre. The album is still entertaining and moves along in fine style with Bix Medard‘s very breathy euro pop, sweet soft vocal feel with the added edge of Peter Clasen on bass and monophonic synths giving a stronger rounded edge to the sound.There are some songs that stand out in terms of cross over appeal, the opener La Photo en Noire et Blanc sounding a bit like Visage. Parking 58 and C’est Si Bon are also stand out sweet Euro pop. It’s never easy taking on a cover, especially a John Lennon song but the version of Imagine is quite brave. It’s also a clever idea as it sounds like it could be fresh in a commercial and bring Bix Medard into the mainstream.
There’s a lot of charm on Y-Dress?. Nice melodies, a few catchy europop songs, quirky French vocals and great bass playing. There’s also something missing. Something lacking and it may just be that the rest of the songs aren’t strong enough and tend to meander into sounding like Kraftwerk collaborating in Bristol with Portishead. Stylistically it is cool and Bix could a big star. She is a painter, performance artist, poet and also a singer. It may be harsh to say this but she is perhaps a jack of all trades and a mistress of none. With more focus and a definite musical direction, she could be a European star in the style of Alison Goldfrapp.
Y Dress? is released in the UK on July 5th
www.bixmedard.com
[][][] (3/5)
Review by Charlie Brown
