John-Lord Fonda – Walk Again (Album – Citizen Records)
Genre/Influences: Techno, Electro-Clash, Techno-Body.
Format: Digital, Vinyl.
Background/Info: Cyril Thévenard aka ‘John-Lord Fonda’ never expected to release a new full length after “Supersonique”. But ten years later the French producer unleashed this new opus featuring eleven new cuts.
Content: John-Lord Fonda composes Techno music with multiple influences on top. He first of all achieved an impressive production, the album revealing overwhelming, blasting sound treatments. It all remains Techno from a darker edge, but still features Electroclash reminiscences while other passages are into pure reverie, becoming pretty Cinematographic. Some of the most danceable tracks even lead the listener into Trance. A few tracks feature guest vocals by Gabriel Afahti and Veronika Nikolic.
+ + + : As I already said the work is characterized by a high-tech sound production. Not sure if John-Lord Fonda is only using hardware equipment, but the production clearly sounds this way. I was impressed by some humming bass lines and vintage/analogue sound treatments. Just pay attention to “Antarctica”, which is a total fusion between old Electroclash and Techno music. But I also recommend listening to “Les Dunes d’Altaïr” (previously released as a single), which features vocals while the structure of the song is ending in a transcendental effect. The album is also featuring cool, melodic sequences (cf. “Together Again”) and harder, bouncing passages (cf. “We Can’t Breathe”) here again with vocals on top.
– – – : It’s a pity we had to wait for such a long time to welcome a new album by this great artist. The work is diversified so you’ll all find some favorite cuts while I’m less convinced by the very few Cinematographic passages.
Conclusion: An album is more and becoming ‘old-school’, but it still remains a total work and when it’s accomplished with such passion as for “Walk Again” I think it still makes sense to go on releasing it.
Best songs: “Antarctica”, “Les Dunes d’Altaïr”, “Together Again”, “We Can’t Breathe”, “Race For Nothing”.
Rate: 8½.
Artist: www.facebook.com/johnlordfondaofficial
Label: www.citizen-records.com / www.facebook.com/citizenrecords
About John-Lord Fonda
John-Lord Fonda is the project of French producer Cyril Thévenard, credited on Discogs and Bandcamp as John Lord Fonda. Discogs lists “Voltage E.P” in 2004 and “DeBaSer” in 2005, followed by “Voltage E.P 2” on Citizen Records in 2007 and the mixed compilation “Composite” on Module and Citizen Records in 2009.
The album “Supersonique” appeared on Citizen Records in 2011, the same year as the digital EP “What’s Going On ? Part 1”. Two further EPs followed in 2013, “Ondes” on Boxon Records and “Electronic Ballet EP” on A-Traction Records. The producer returned to Citizen Records in 2021 with the “Altaïr” 12″ EP.
“Walk Again” was released on 30 November 2021 through Citizen Records. Discogs lists a 2021 digital edition and a 2022 vinyl LP. The review above counts eleven cuts, while the Citizen Records Bandcamp LP page lists ten: “Introïtus”, “A Descent Melody”, “Antarctica”, “Together Again”, “We Can’t Breathe”, “Walk Again”, “Les Dunes d’Altaïr”, “Race for Nothing”, “They Will Fight for You” and “Crème”. Beatport credits the title track to John Lord Fonda and Gabriel Afathi.
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