Colder returns to find everyone else still playing catch up

In the case of Colder, the sonic brainchild of French producer Marc Nguyen Tan, it’s been ten years since the release of 2005’s Heat. But there’s no worry about his new album, Many Colours, sounding obsolete and antiquated, simply because Tan was so far ahead of the game in the past that the current scene is still trying to catch up with and copy his stylish darkwave alchemy.

There is a refined, patient elegance to these nine new songs, with Tan crafting a luxurious soundscape that never comes off as forced or rushed. He’s also not chasing after the newest electronic fads in order to capitalize on what’s in fashion in the Parisian clubs. Instead, he’s continuing an innovative musical dialogue that started with his groundbreaking debut, Again, in 2002, while also adding a contemporary pulse to his moody, seductive compositions.

Minimalist piano strains are smoothly layered within Tan’s downtempo beats throughout the album. They tastefully augment the pulsating title track, as well as "Stationary Remote Anger", and the haunting, Joy Division-esque closer, "Silence", while giving the material a subliminal organic quality that only compliments the studied tension of the songs themselves.

The upbeat, isolated dynamism of "Midnight Fever" is amplified by the sultry guest vocals of Owlle, who makes the subject gazing longingly out their window at the passing world below sound a little less alone. The entire record seems to be a study in contrasts between despondent loneliness and the faint hope of connection, with music being the bridge connecting the distinctive parts of the same complex self.

Colder has no intention of redefining or reshaping the electronic music world with Many Colours. Instead, Tan seems more interested in seamlessly adding his saturnine musical textures to the growing sonic palette of the modern club scene, while also reminding us all just how on point and of the moment his sound continues to be.