Album Review: Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety

Thanks to the likes of The Weeknd, Twin Shadow and Frank Ocean, R&B is cool again. Not that it went away, or stopped having poignant entries into its oeuvre – D'Angelo in particular kept it close during the 2000s – but as these others have shown, Autre Ne Veut (Arthur Ashkin to his mother) is emotionally aware of his vices and indiscretions, and on Anxiety he airs his misgivings with a raw combination of confidence and sexuality.

One of the biggest selling points for Anxiety, and indeed Autre Ne Veut, is his arresting voice. Ashkin gives a sense of gravitas, power and believability to these tracks, with just enough vulnerability to pull at the heartstrings. Sticking to the album title, the songs seesaw from a sensual groove to a strained emotive howl, often within the same narrative. Ego Free, Sex Free slinks forward, a choir lifting up Ashkin's silky falsetto as he sings the cryptic “Ego free, sex free/I can't feel my body moving/Ego free, sex free/I can't see your body, baby”, a soaring tune that dovetails into the sparse A Lie, which lays the soul bare just before we are swooped up again on Warning. The single Counting borrows heavily from The Weeknd's Balearic dance music, interspersed with sharp stabs of perplexing sax. The overtly upbeat Warning is juxtaposed with ominous lyrics, and Gonna Die sees Ashkin offer his darkest yet most lyrical lines (“I feel I'm gonna die/And I feeling more accurately now than I have in a long while”).

Anxiety toys with ideas and emotions, backed by supreme production from the likes of Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford in what is a smooth, addictive yet obtuse masterstroke.