Austin-based Parisian pop chanteuse Lou Rebecca debuts with an eponymous, electronically edged, and arresting extended play that accentuates the natural nostalgia in the singer’s winsome voice. Although tremendously bright atop synth/keyboard washes and percussion pinging off elastic basslines, the four-song 12-inch remains steeped in the signature analog glow of homegrown cottage industry Holodeck Records. Eli Welbourne’s deft production creates elaborate pockets for Rebecca’s musical romanticism, which tips in elements of Seventies-era and contemporary French dream-pop (“Fantôme”), plus delectable bits of vintage Italo-disco (“If You Can,” “Tonight”). On six-minute closer “Neverending,” with its dollhouse heartbeat and multilayered vocal caress, the singer wonders aloud, in a flit of fantastic elation, “Is there a way to end it all; can I never sleep again?” Rebecca’s supple and educated delivery evokes a nuanced understanding of what can and cannot be.
This article appears in January 26 • 2018.
