Grade: B+

We are all very touched, up here, that the esoteric French artist formerly known as Christine and the Queens has changed her name to Redcar, in honour of our once vibrant beachside steel town. Perhaps she was impressed by the newish ‘vertical pier’, or enjoyed a nutritious meal in the Light of Asia. Or, better still, maybe she is planning to adopt a whole bunch of East Cleveland nom de plumes and will next call herself Liverton Mines, or Boosebeck. She may, of course, just mean a red car.

Héloîse Letissier (her born name) is very good at simple, naggingly catchy, woebegone synth pop. The simpler the better – as with 2018’s wonderful ‘Five Dollars’ which once heard will never leave your head. She is much less good at ethereal electronic art-pop. This album, apparently spurred by a break-up, has just about enough of the former to keep you listening. There’s the exquisite opener (in Franglais) ‘Ma Bien Aimée Bye Bye’, where she discovers a neat hook and hammers it to death, the sweet and repetitious ‘Rien Dire’ and best of all ‘Je Te Vois Enfin’, which is cute Europop and none the worse for that.

Most of the rest irritates a little: the melodies become formless, the wintery synths start to numb the senses and Héloïse becomes more and more histrionic to compensate for the regrettable lack of a melody. It’s all about anomie and alienation, I suppose – in which case she should probably take a walk around the desiccated Redcar suburb of Dormanstown and fill her pretty little boots. I’ll buy her a pint later at the Lobster.   

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