ALBUM REVIEW: Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains – Âge Fleuve

InFiné

Released: 31.01.25

These days Frànçois writes slow, demure synth pop songs, close in spirit to his early DIY recordings and to the mournful minimalism of bands such as The Field Mice. On the surface, F&AM’s songs are smooth, polished like sea pebbles. They shimmer. Fràncois talk-sings in French, sometimes in duet with old friends (Rozi Plain, Malik Djoudi). His voice is becoming lighter and lighter – elusive as a dream – nothing will stop it. He is the singer of vanished seasons and ages.

Frànçois, who grew up by the French Atlantic coast, always had a special kinship with water. Beneath the smooth surface, there is a defiant, rugged undercurrent. Visions of space and distance. Âge Fleuve is a very tenderly haunted record – full of farewells and memories.