abracadabra - shapes & colors (2023)

A few years earlier, abracadabra had come out of the straitjacket with a first album of the same name. The Oakland duo of Hannah Skelton (vocals, synths) and Chris Niles (bass, synths) set the world in tune with their absolutely colorful and inventive music which continues to work wonders two and a half years later with their successor entitled shapes & colors.

Through these ten new titles, abracadabra transports us to the 1980s with their undeniable know-how. We are almost tempted to make a comparison with Tom Tom Club and ESG when listening to the impeccable "talk talk" which opens the ball before getting carried away by absolutely whimsical and slightly offbeat funky moments like "in a photo" and " swim”. So take a pinch of 1980s dance-punk and late 1970s post-punk with a psychedelic and arty touch, and you'll get the oh so addictive and wacky music of the Oakland duo.

There is something for everyone for this shapes & colors. Indeed, abracadabra can mix the coolness of Laetitia Sadier as well as the inventive melodies of Cate Le Bon on rhythms cut for the dancefloor like "inyo county" or even "impactor" and "at the zoo". It's refreshing, quirky but totally good-natured until the end with "dawn in the age of aquarius" which closes this second disc carefully blurring the tracks. We may be in January but that doesn't mean shapes & colors by abracadabra wouldn't be in your tops of the best albums of 2023.