Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue)

Few artists understand the power of persona like Christine and the Queens' Redcar. On Chris, he used it to express a potent, present sexuality, cementing his place as a pop innovator along the way. On Redcar les adorables étoiles, he creates something more ineffable, melding sensuality and identity into a magical, inspiring sense of self. It's fitting that his first work as Redcar -- a name emblematic of passion and continuous motion -- begins a new chapter of self-realization. He described his third album as a rock opera, and aside from moments such as the euphoric closing track "Les âmes amantes," it rarely feels like a collection of discrete pop songs. Its pensive opener "Ma bien aimée bye bye," which bids farewell to Redcar's old self and greets his new one with a circular melody worthy of a folk song, hints that this will be less immediate fare than Chris. It's a feeling confirmed by "Combien de temps." A funky, slow-motion testament to love's power to stop time in its tracks, it never loses its confident thrust over its eight and a half-minute expanse. The album's scope and flow feel connected to La Vita Nuova, the first music Redcar made in the wake of his mother's 2019 death. Despite its brevity, that EP had a striking cohesiveness that Étoiles builds on with its mystical fusion of synth pop, dream pop, and R&B and its images of stars, knights, and eternal love. Along with "La chanson du chevalier," which drifts in on moonlit synths and drifts off on a bewitched flute melody, "My Birdman" and "La clairefontaine" offer a fantastical sensuality filled with possibilities. Though Christine and the Queens' live shows have shaped Redcar's music since the days he performed with drag queens, out of all his albums this one sounds the most like a performance. Echoing swaths of synths suggest a stage embellished by colorful spotlights and fog machines, while vocals leap across each song like choreography. Redcar's voice is truly liberated on Étoiles, whether he's singing from the heart and gut on "Tu sais ce qu'il me faut" and "Je te vois enfin" (one of the album's finest statements of purpose) or adding a more delicate warmth to the icy elegance of "Les étoiles." As much as he pushes forward, his gift at making songs that sound like embraces remains. "Rien dire," "Mémoire des ailes," and "Looking for Love," a trio of songs celebrating and yearning for the eternal connection between lovers, hark back to "Tilted" in their tender pulse and how they capture universal emotions with tiny details. Artistic development and self-discovery are endless journeys, but Redcar les adorables étoiles' vulnerability, confidence, and imagination often feels like a culmination of Christine and the Queens' work. By not forcing Redcar's music into a pop template when it doesn't fit, the album reaffirms him as a resolutely independent artist and makes another fine addition to a nearly flawless discography. ~ Heather Phares