- A couple of months back, Antinote released a record that came to its attention through a chance find at a Paris flea market. The music on Paki & Visnadi's Imaginary Choreography cassette was then issued on vinyl for the first time, 31 years after it was produced. The label's latest release, Comme Ça by Domenique Dumont, has a sweet, faded quality that sounds like it, too, was rescued from a forgotten pile of secondhand tapes.
As it turns out, Comme Ça is a completely new release, and unlike Imaginary Choreography, it comes with no context or backstory. Little is known about Dumont, except that he lives in Latvia. The two opening tracks—"Comme Ça" and "L'Esprit De l'Escalier"—set slinky French vocals against a dubby backdrop of synths and steel drums. Both are lovely, and it would've been understandable if Dumont made a whole record in this vein. But the vocals disappear for good on "La Basse Et Les Shakers," an energetic Afro-house tune reminiscent of fellow Antinote act Albinos.
Comme Ça's B-side slopes away from the dance floor and towards something more horizontal—this is music for hammocks or sun lounges. There's some of Jon Hassell's fourth world concept in "Un Jour Avec Yusef," whose buttery percussion and stretched-out guitar transports you to an imagined tropical paradise. "La Bataille De Neige" takes a conventional dub rhythm and pretty melody, smothering it in tape hiss; "Le Château De Corail" closes the LP with something Leyland Kirby might produce if he took The Caretaker to the Caribbean. Dreamy keys float by while the looping needle stuck in a runout groove sounds like waves lapping at a shore.
What's most impressive about Comme Ça is how much ground it covers in so little time, sliding by in a breezy 25 minutes. Its brevity is central to its appeal: Comme Ça teases and beguiles, like the final slither of a setting sun.
Tracklist01. Comme Ça
02. L'Esprit de l'Escalier
03. La Basse et les Shakers
04. La Bataille de Neige
05. Un Jour Avec Yussef
06. Le Château De Corail