Petit Biscuit - Presence

Petit Biscuit
Presence
2017
Spotify

Petit Biscuit is such a different kind of electronic producer. Rather than being immediately dancey Petit Biscuit allows his music to unfurl slowly leading you to a magical point but making sure you stick with him for the full journey. Its a new take on electronic pop music, saying that maybe it doesn't have to be all EDM to be popular, maybe it can be a bit more subtle. You'll almost immediately notice an Odesza vibe to Presence, a comparison that Petit is going to have a really hard time trying to shake. Odesza looms really large over the whole record, but Petit Biscuit pushes the analogue sound much further. He has a similar composition style to filous. but he doesn't only rely on analogue instrumentation. The environments He is able to create on this album are simply stunning. The music is really really complex with layer after layer adding to this structure that He is trying to build with his songs. The elements of dance are ever present but they never feel like the focus of the record they are more of a happy accident. Pop is clearly what Petit Biscuit is going for here with some of the songs being a bit more loaded with the catchy hooks, but even on tracks like "Problems" there is still this element of something that is just too intricate average pop audience. A song like "Beam" which breathes in and out of existence with this really great old sounding violin kicking down the door at the same time is inspiring but you sure as hell won't be hearing it on your local radio station. That is the real bummer, listening to this record, knowing how good it is and also knowing that the way the music industry is currently setup means Presence won't get the credit it deserves. Let's fix that.

Nature is such an important element to Petit Biscuit with each of his songs really grabbing a hold of something natural to lay the groundwork for electronic experimentation. I am personally a huge fan of chopped up vocals and Petit includes them on many of these tracks including "Sunset Lover". It gives the song another percussive instrument by giving the vocals more punch in their delivery. The albums pace is quite nice but there are a few times where it seems like we are staying at one level, one BPM for too long. You almost want him not be a bit more bombastic, really set a song on fire but instead He is restrained. Petit Biscuit will find a great bass line or guitar riff and stick with it find everything out about that line then move on, but He wants to explore music on a deeper level rather than just making some catchy tunes. The album benefits from this approach and while it is totally complex it sounds as natural as anything else. Presence puts Petit Biscuit on stronger footing in the electronic world and He is setting himself up to be big time at some festivals in 2018. We'll just have to wait and see where He goes from here.

8.0 out of 10