Autre Ne Veut

Anxiety (Mexican Summer)

Arthur Ashin, the New Yorker behind the moniker Autre Ne Veut, might be the anti-pop Prince. Delivered with the same raw sexuality as the Purple One but without Mr. Nelson’s radio-friendly hits, Anxiety has a healthy appetite for evasiveness, an intimately layered R&B disc that never lets the listener rest too comfortably. Just as “Counting” settles into its lush seduction of gentle synth and gasping falsetto, it’s jarred by an errant saxophone blast. Similarly, chipmunklike vocal warps are thrown over the quiet bits of an already quip-loaded “Ego Free Sex Free.” Somehow, these direct assonance flouts don’t buck the listener, but rather create a kind of aural game of intrigue. Ashin seems quite aware of his hit-making potential, but he’s eager to remind audiences that he won’t be pigeonholed. (1pm, Honda stage)

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This article appears in October 4 • 2013.

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