Summer is quickly approaching and I know you all are on the hunt for the perfect road trippin’, pool dippin’ tunes, and boy, do I have a treat for you. French duo, Polo & Pan have just dropped a musical journey of an album, Caravelle, which coincidentally is a Portuguese sailing boat used to explore that became popular during the 15th century. The album explores many genres, making it hard to pinpoint their exact style, but it’s heavy on the tropical, funky, Euro-disco sounds.
So Paul Armand-Delille is Polo and Alexandre Grynszpan is Pan. The pair met in Paris at Le Baron nightclub where they both were resident DJ’s. Their first collaboration was a project called Rivolta with Hamburger records that was a 1930’s Italian voice sample with a disco bassline. How can you go wrong?
Grynszpan is inspired by early 2000’s pop music, electronic music, and psych rock. He is a musical mastermind, and it shows in his radio concept, Radiooooo.com. The site is an interactive and user-friendly map that you can click on to choose a region and a clickable timeline to choose an era of music. You can then go on to choose a slow, fast, or weird song, and basically enter an endless music wormhole. Armand-Delille is inspired by his mystical trips in the desert and his work with MAD agency creating workspaces for artists in industrial warehouses. And together, they make tight dance music that makes you feel like you’re eating sunshine in the jungle.
The album begins with strange, psychedelic sounding trance called, “Abysse”, which is obviously the French word for abyss and feels like exactly that.
“Aqualand”, the next track has a completely different feel altogether and sounds like a French K-pop dream. Or would that make it F-pop? In any case, it’s enchanting and vibrant, and continues you along in the journey full of surprise.
One of my favorites, “Canopée”, refers to the forest tops creating a canopy in the jungle and is reminiscent of Thievery Corporation’s soft guitar interludes. A catchy bassline and French lyricism disallows the listener from standing still, and is enjoyable to most people (as I have tested out in multiple scenarios in my own life).
“Nanã” is also a noteworthy simple sounding disco sample turned into a not too bassy summer anthem. I feel as though I should be sipping a pina colada and roller skating down a coast somewhere.
“Dorothy”, a single off their 2014 EP Dorothy is a tribute to the Wizard of Oz, and the imaginative, unmasked desires of childhood, turned into an electronic, Romare-esque, dream. I cannot express how different every track on this LP is, but the tropicality and danceability is apparent throughout.
“Plage Isolée (soleil levant)” has an Emancipator like chord progression and translates to some lovely stuff about a sunrise on an isolated beach.
“Mexicali” straight up sounds like a circus happening in Ibiza and it’s tight. But why are you still reading me explain the songs to you? LISTEN TO THIS GOLD, thank me later.