Until now Raphaël D'herves was better known as the brain behind French dreampop unit, Pegase, as well as the more electro Minitel Rose, but now he ventures into the music world under his own name, gracing our ears with a luscious debut called 'Rêves'. It's the beginning of an ambitious project in which D'hervez aims "mix Christophe (french singer from the 70's), contemporary R&B artist such as Frank Ocean, and classious french production (Air)."
The classious (classy) part is certainly right. The production is elegant, dripping with clarity and distinguished sheen; from the offset of the track it only takes one element to attract and bewitch the listener, and that is the handclap, the clopping delicious dolcelatte unaffected unpretentious untamperedwith handclap. From here, ahh, the jacuzzi satisfaction of those blomglomming heavenly vibraphone, the dusty percussive rasp of the bongo, the deep crisp simple bass groove, the antsy excitement of the shaker's roving rattle. The clear quality of the vocals as they weave catchy melodies throughout, warmly layered in the chorus. The sparkle of electric guitar arpeggios.
And towards the end of the track, the soaring violin, the rising tide of electronics, the glimmering decayed crescendo of it all, provides a magnificent finale to what started off so simply, each instrument each sound slotting in with precision to build the vision of D'hervez. Watching the video for the track, as each instrument gets its well deserved close-up, each one making up this audio treasure trove, you can see the pure love of sound, giving literal ocular illustration for what can be heard well enough: passion for making music.
- 🔔 'Rêves' is taken from a forthcoming four-track EP by Raphael D'hervez called L'Oiseau Tonnerre, which literally means "thunder bird", out 2nd June on Nantes-based label FVTVR, of which D'hervez is the founder.
- 🔔 The video for 'Rêves' was directed by the artist's brother, Tristan D'hervez, filmed at the studio where the EP was recorded. In addition the track features Antonin Pierre on electric and acoustic guitar, Jordane Saunal on violin, with choral vocals supplied by Ana Benabdelkarim.
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