A bands name and its origin can be revealing. Take Paris based chest. who live and breath music completely. The five members of the band met through working at Supersonic, one of Paris’s beating hearts of independent music. They bonded over not only the connection between them and working in music but through the live music they experience coming through the venue everyday. chest. now deliver their debut album Happy, Broken via Howlin’ Banana. It is an intoxicating body of work.
Opener ‘Everyone Learns To Leave Quietly’ begins quietly and delicately with a beautifully sung vocal by English lead singer Elliot Selwood. However the calm does not last long as the emotive gut-wrenching power sharply kicks in, the industrial clanging and layers of instrumentation creating a whole which is as shocking in its abrupt end as it was with its gentile beginning. The pace quickens on ‘Lotus Eater’ which bounces along but with the spoken urgent vocal and twitchy guitar creating an edge. Right now “live fast, die young” and “dance, dance, dance” seem wholly appropriate bearing in mind the era we currently inhabit.
There is something of Psychedelic Furs Richard Butler in the vocals of chest., if he had a slightly unhinged intensity. Take ‘cor’ fast and furious with its manic electronic pulsating beats. “1 + 1 + 1 is 3. I just want to see”. The frustration with modern life boils over: “I can’t fucking concentrate”. One of the exhilarating aspects of chest. is the clarity of the vocal delivery. Combined with instrumentation which mashes tension, industrialisation, electronics, electrifying guitars and yet is thrillingly danceable and the result is euphoric. ‘Otto’ is an intensely introspective track. Here there is an outpouring of discontent, and yet the listener cannot resist turning the volume right up and dancing. The overwhelming sense of catharsis is evident, and it is universal in its impact.
“I smoke, all alone
I can’t seem to throw
Please just let me
Go home”
And just when the listener thinks they have the measure of this band, ‘Half Step // Full Step’ arrives. The slow intro builds into a cinematic soundscape with the most glorious vocal, again self-deprecating in its theme. “I’m sorry I’m sorry, I can’t say enough”. Intensely personal this track is brutally open. How on earth can music create such an emotional response in the listener? What is it about a unique combination of notes, layers of instrumentation and vocal that punches the gut? Just listen to ‘Half Step // Full Step’ and this reviewer defies the listener not to be moved. Happy, Broken continues with the pulsating, exhilarating ‘Raincheck’ with its distorted vocals and gloriously pulsating beats.
And then, oh my, album highlight ‘Roger Roger’ – completely captivating, the sharp drum beats and screeching guitars weaving a spell. “warn me, warn me again,
enemies are close, where are your friends?”
Bombastic and exhilarating ‘Roger, Roger’ is thought-provoking lyrically, but the listener will probably be too busy throwing their body around on first listen to notice. The repetition of “RUN” for the final section is staggering with its impassioned delivery.
Navigating the modern world and the challenge for the individual is a thread that runs through Happy, Broken. ‘Entertainment’ states: “try living in the right place, try wearing the right face”. The deadpan delivery of “this is all I want from life. Entertainment” says so much and is powerful in its impact. Pounding beats suggest the pressure of the present day, alongside a menacing undercurrent of static fuelled guitars, indeed the underlying tension is ever present. The delicate section alludes to a yearning for calm and peace, but the struggle to find it is expressed through a soundscape which dominates, and is menacing in its reach.
At this point, this reviewer has to admit they are running out of superlatives. ‘Again’ admits to the tiredness of battling life. The stop start bombastic soundscape acknowledges the pummelling of dealing with the day-to-day. The repetition of “again” is so emotive, as if caught in a trap and unable to move forward.
The longest track closes out the album. ‘I’m Proud’ is a composed exploration of self, both questioning and uncertain. The human condition is beautifully explored with lyrics which touch us all: “you wanna fit in” and “Did I want it all? Did I want to be safe?”. Delicately contemplative it slowly fades out, and do listen to the very end.
It’s a cliche yes but chest. have followed up last year’s EP All Good Things End with an album that is all killer no filler. Happy, Broken is an astonishing body of work to be played from start to finish, just like the old days. This five piece are a unit tightly bound through not only their talent but their environment and the community of music. They not only created the music and lyrics but also fulfilled production and mixing duties between them.
Happy, Broken is an album which grabs the core of one’s being and does not let go until the final note.
An astonishing debut which is an album of the year – no question.
For more information on chest. please check their instagram and facebook.
Review: 9 out of 10