Review Summary: Mediocrity thrives in emptiness.
Sébastien Akchoté-Bozović, aka SebastiAn, a 38-year-old French producer worth over a million dollars, has been producing and deejaying since at least 2005. His production style was the natural conclusion of the late aughts' bloghaus/electroclash movement, funky basslines providing the foundation for barbed wire synths and crisp vocal samples. In 2011, a couple years after the genre had died for the Pitchfork scene, he dropped
Total, an excellent and frequently overlooked peak of Ed Banger Records. Even with the mediocre reviews and general lack of (deserved) attention, it became a cult classic among the type of people who had been waiting for a sequel to
Cross and
Alive 2007, a touchpoint for the past decade of French house and EDM as a whole. Yes, EDM - SebastiAn's footprint is clearly visible through hundreds of Soundcloud remixes and massive festivals alike. While I would argue otherwise, most of the art field sees this kind of influence as a bad thing, as their false conception is that music that people can pump their fist to belongs exclusively to the kind of people who exclusively pump their fist. Akchoté-Bozović, who certainly belongs or at least wishes to belong more in the highbrow art world than the world of Youtube and WeTransfer (his credits post-
Total include extensive work with Frank Ocean and Charlotte Gainsbourg), seems to have taken this to heart and reacted accordingly.
Thirst is his misguided, confused attempt to create something that appears meaningful when he clearly had nothing important to say.
That's not how it appears initially - "Thirst," the self-titled opener, is one of his most dramatic songs ever, growing from quiet throbbing into full on bass-boosted growls by the end. With the follow-up, "Doorman," Syd and SebastiAn (a
fantastic pairing) use their mutual abilities to emulate a deep and genuine sexual tension. The next couple pieces are fine b-sides, not favorites or anything but passable. Once you get to "Pleasant," his signature is still technically there, but the songwriting drops significantly. Every song either builds up and builds up and never releases (somehow more of a tease than "Threnody," a single that consists of one rising tone for 11 straight minutes before the drop) or has an underwhelming hook. "Sev" wastes Sevdalisa's potential as an interlude, followed shortly by "Sober," which has an elementary beat and basic lyrics about avoiding temptation at the club and feels tailor made for TV background music during a dull montage. "Time To Talk" is classic SebastiAn, equal parts dark and groovy, but just not enough of either. There's no breakdown, no surprises, no meticulously organized chaos.
Unfortunately for Sébastien, failing to capture his previous sound is not nearly the biggest problem he faces here. No,
Thirst's main issue is that it doesn't mean anything. His previous works,
Total in particular, acted as a mission statement, revealing his sense of passion through nail-biting tracks and a universal aesthetic. Despite lyrics ranging from angry incomprehensible yelling ("Doggg") to horny love tunes ("Love In Motion") to literally just the words "huge vagina" on loop ("Huge"), there was a commonality to it that is absent here, a danger and edge. He waited 8 years for his next point, and what is it? I have no idea. Maybe I'm missing something, but at least on a musical level, the range of emotions here is wide and disjointed. Most songs have little to nothing to do with each other, a vague sense of grandiosity the only real tie. For example, "Handcuffed to a Parking Meter" is silly and theatrical, which is fine, if anything else on
Thirst felt the same way. But nothing does, and it's frustratingly obvious that it was just tacked on for the Sparks feature, completely interrupting any semblance of a flow towards the epic conclusion. And more importantly than any specific misplaced track is just how little energy there is. Not only does it not work together, but it feels tired, uninterested. It sounds less overstuffed and messy and more like a label obligation, something to make a quick buck or to get the fans off his back. That last goal, unfortunately, will probably be a success. The cover art to
Total solely featured a dimly lit and highly saturated photo of Sébastien making out with himself, intimate and controversial.
Thirst is a different affair, an understated color photo of him beating himself up with a bored expression on both of his faces, surrounded by a white border. It's not a statement, just a facsimile of one, which is extra disappointing when he used to be so good at them. The truth is, we're never getting what we want.
