Petite Noir - La Maison Noir / The Black House

Petite Noir’s debut ‘La Vie Est Belle / Life is Beautiful’ was hypnotising, fusing both the challenging and the pleasurable to mesmerising and futuristic results. Now, he returns with ‘La Maison Noir / The Black House’, a mini album that continues his ‘Noirwave’ movement - a celebration of freedom and creativity.

Opening track ‘Blame Fire’ kicks things off with a bang (ahem), with warped synths crossing over with rollicking drums and a relentlessly catchy hook: it’s a winning combination. The Danny Brown-featuring ‘Beach’ continues the momentum, with Petite Noir’s vocals and Danny’s looping raps meshing beautifully. However, the relentless focus on drums being set to-the-absolute-max, vocals being bellowed and throwing the entire kitchen sink at it all leaves little room for nuance as the tracks progress. It becomes a tiring listen, begging for the moments of shade that appeared on his debut record, rather than the sheer balls-to-the-wall maximalism provided. The opening three numbers shine, showing a refreshing sound bursting at the seams with positivity, but the lack of variety means that, by the end, you may feel slightly bludgeoned by it all.