“Dreems”, the latest (and final) album by the duo Cassius

In 2010, silver, red, neon and moustache-topped lips appeared on countless iPhone 4 screens. They announced the successful comeback of the duo Cassius with I Love U So in a multicoloured video. A flagbearer of the French Touch in the middle of the 90s, (alongside Daft Punk, Justice and Laurent Garnier), Cassius established themselves in the house music genre by adding a dash of pop and synth disco vocals. In the summer of 2016, Cassius moved away from club sonorities with a penultimate album entitled Ibifornia: the worlds of singer Cat Power and the artist Pharrell Williams were given pride of place.

 

Twenty years and four albums after the start of the band, just two days after the terrible accident of Philippe Cerboneschi, better known as Zdar, comes the release of Dreems, the duo’s fifth and final album. With its thundering snare drums, “clubby” bass lines, powerful kick and sizzling synths, it marks a veritable homecoming, bursting with the emblematic house music they were first known for.

 

The twelve tracks of this new opus follow on from one another as if part of a DJ set. Calliope is the most intense tune with six minutes of vigorous rhythms and retro vocals set against a pure made-in-Ibiza techno. Pop and disco harmonies also weave their way through the piece. With Fame, a languorous male choir fills us with nostalgia for 1980s parties. There’s also a variety of collaborations on Dreems: French dreampop singer Owlle features on the track Do not let me be and the American rapper Mike D on the over-excited Cause oui ! With its ultra-dynamic beats, spontaneous melodies, a resolutely vibrant instrumental, the Dreems album is a bittersweet tribute to the talented Cassius duo. 

 

Dreems is available on I Music, Spotifiy, Deezer and Youtube Premium