The Prince in the Rain

Last year brought us revival of a masterpiece as Blade Runner, North Korea continued playing war, Planet Earth witnessed once again the destruction brought on by hurricanes like Harvey… but it was also a pretty hectic year for our guy Darlyn Vlys “I became a father of twins when I already had a 2-year-old baby, precisely whose photo appears on the cover of this LP… my child’s face and his expression, I see myself 100% reflected in him when I was a kid”.

In spite of the sacrifice that ‘double’ and fabulous surprise life brought him, 2017 also became a very creative and productive journey. This debut album, entitled “Prince in the Rain” was designed, a kind of incredibly well cohesive original soundtrack, written within the parameters of a sci-fi film with a good dose of realism, drama and romanticism. The French artist –born in Nimes, and now residing in Valencia, Spain- and whose name is Sylvain Soulier confesses about the title “it is inspired by a reverb preset very frequently used during the album composition, and that pays tribute to one of the artists who have inspired my musical career the most: the regrettably deceased Prince. ” And if we add to that, that his child, the one in the artwork, is usually called at home Petit Prince (Little Prince), the entire work connects and brings us on another, higher emotional level.

Musically speaking, we will find wisely assembled fragments of electronica: fragile melodies, vocal notes, snapping percussive beats igniting an uncertain yet intriguing mood, sometimes just beautiful loops, and reflective pad chords… very cinematic sounds! A corner where coexist from synth pop halfway cheerfulness and introspection -shoegaze, dream pop- to atmospheric textures of organic house and deep techno. 11 songs built with melodic structures and very detailed sounds where sometimes the lyrical wins (“Retrograde”, “Map to the Stars”), others mild and poetic (“Learned to Hide”, “Tears in the Rain”).

Other songs might surprise you, “Surface” where its choral and moral hypersensitivity could transport you to a ‘chef-d’oeuvre’ like “Goodbye” of Apparat with Soap&Skin. Darlyn Vlys is backed up for this occasion by the vocal collaboration of the Australian singer Haptic. Sparkling and gloomy. Emotional and escapist. Pure and mature. Vivid and full of conflicts, I mean…universal. The collabs of Andreas Kubat, lead singer of the alt-rock and electro German band Northern Lite (twice over: “Learned to Hide” and “Sun in the Hell”) as well as the Belgian Rari in “Paradoxal”, a kind of “Smalltown Boy” (Bronski Beat) but quite more contemporary and restrained, are also essential in the LP. We are not going to ignore the participation in the album of the musician and drummer Days Off; Kid Bucle (arrangements and perspective) and of course AFFKT, on the mastering and building a final mix of the overall project. AFFKT himself attests “mixing this album has been one of the biggest challenges, most difficult and complex jobs of my entire career as a sound engineer.” All of them played a very important part in making this album one of the year’s most absorbing and pulsating.