- Chloe's first album, the understated The Waiting Room, was the embodiment of the Kill the DJ ethos: It showcased minimalist house noir next to guitar-based, almost blues-y proper songs, and in so doing became the elusive imprint's most perfectly accomplished release. It also demonstrated how impressively accomplished Chloe was in the producer's chair; she wrote, arranged and mixed the entire thing herself. Without much fanfare, Chloe is back now with a second full-length, One in Other, an album that polishes her aesthetic even further for an even more focused, impressive result.
"Word of Word" is a tantalizing album opener, as delicate chimes circumnavigate in an almost beatless environment, but it remains in sync with the Kill the DJ ethos, even if it verges on somber yet well-mannered and languorous tech house. The same restraint is applied to the album's piece de resistance: At almost ten minutes long, "Diva" showcases an ongoing play between operatic vocal samples and Chloe's own muted murmuring. Even though it threatens at times to collapse under its conceptual weight, it somehow never does and remains intriguing and sexy. "Fair Game" goes further into experimental vocal territory, as the voice is limited here to scrambled echolalia. With "One Ring Circus" and "Slow Lane," it forms the album's core sequence with a kind of disturbingly deep fembot techno that's not unlike Nina Kraviz's recent "Pain in the Ass." (Unsurprisingly, Kraviz is a Chloe favorite.)
That isn't to say Chloe has put aside all her quirky electroacoustic peregrinations: After all, the album wouldn't be Parisian if it wasn't a shade difficult at some point. "The Glow," "You" (featuring Brooklyn's own baroque minstrel Chris Garneau on spoken word duties) and "Herselves" are consequently nothing more than mere sonic vignettes built around echoing ambient bits. Nonetheless, they segue perfectly into the overall, rarely-over-120-BPM atmosphere.
And while the title track is an IDM torch song that succeeds at being both menacing and lullaby-like, "Ways Ahead" boldly revisits the more guitar-oriented side of her weird dance music rulebook, this time with delicate Larsen effect ebbing in the background. "Distant" is new wave—almost playful—and probably the shiniest release Kill the DJ has ever allowed itself to contemplate. One in Other shows a truly dedicated producer overbidding on what made her great in the first place without the end result ever sounding self-dispersed. The title might be off-kilter, but the music itself is well aligned and overfilled with individuality.
Tracklist 01. Word for Word
02. Diva
03. Distant
04. The Glow
05. One in other
06. You feat. Chris Garneau
07. One Ring Circus
08. Fair Game
09. Slow Lane
10. Herselves
11. Ways Ahead