The recent proliferation of generative AI tools that spit out music based on some basic inputs or prompts has resulted in endless speculation about the likelihood of musicians being replaced wholesale by software. Fortunately for the luddites amongst us, Autre Monde are back with their second album to prove that sometimes there’s no substitute for the magic that can emerge when a group of like-minded humans get together in a recording studio.
The musical language of Sensitive Assignments is a mix of avant-funk from the ’60s, Zamrock from the ‘70s and indie pop from the ‘80s along with a range of other sounds that occupied the minds of Paddy Hanna, Padraig Cooney, Mark Chester and Eoghan O’Brien during the recording sessions. Hanna and Cooney’s songwriting is charmingly enigmatic; here you will find an anxiously groovy song about a Marxist revolutionary (Pity for Upright Man) rubbing shoulders with a post-punk paean to the realities of becoming a first-time father (Road to Domestos; the best track on the album).
Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox excels on production duties, expertly harnessing the band’s wide influences and styles into a singular sound. Fox demonstrates an ability to pick out exactly the right noise to catch your ear, whether it’s a synthetic footstep on closer Sensitive Assignment or a jerky accordion cutting through an eerie drum machine on opener, Don’t Have Brain.
One of the most sensitive assignments a band can undertake is their “difficult” second album. Autre Monde can rest easy. This assignment scores top marks.
Words: Joe Joyce
Autre Monde – Sensitive Assignments
