Vitalic – Carbonized [Clivage]

Marking 20 years of his esteemed career, globally acclaimed producer Vitalic has announced details for his new album Dissidænce released in two parts, with Dissidænce Part 1 out on Friday 15th October 2021. 

Locked down and furloughed, Vitalic went back to his synths and beatboxes, resulting in his fifth album Dissidænce – the title of which is a whole story in itself – destined to be released in two volumes. He describes it as a return to the roots of his sonic identity, a kind of reinterpretation of the rock energy from his early albums. 

“More than anything, it was a question of timing. While composing I realised that eight tracks felt like too little for an album, and sixteen was really over the top, so I decided to cut the whole thing in half! The main reason though, is that I felt I hadn’t been able to express everything I wanted to on the first volume – like something had been left unfinished.”

Vitalic is a producer who has perpetually reinvented himself, capable of mixing techno, rock, disco, pop and punk. Dissidænce as a body of work takes in influences from across Vitalic’s career, from the belting club classic of OK Cowboy to the dreamy cosmic disco sounds from his 2017 LP Voyager. 

Released today, the first single ‘Carbonized’, with its bouncy electronic gimmicks, synthetic vocals and irrepressible energy, takes cues from Vitalic’s 2005 dancefloor anthem ‘My Friend Dario’. Vitalic explains “‘Carbonized’ is about toxic people who can kill without touching, without weapons – just by their nature. Somewhere between American or English 70s EBM and French electroclash on steroids, the punk energy turns decidedly to the dancefloor in these 4 minutes of screaming synthesizers and saturated beats.”

The first part of Dissidænce opens with ‘Haute Definition’, electro-mutant disco whose sounds unconsciously form a bond with Voyager. But the adventure quickly moves into harder, more techno-orientated territory, as confirmed by Vitalic:
“I went back to a rougher style of composition than on my last two albums, a sound more influenced by the 1970s, more direct, less smooth. I wanted the production to be aggressive but still sexy.” 

‘Rave Against The System’ is the perfect example of this, setting the tone with its martial rave-ready beat, electro-punk feel, overlapping acid loops and repetitive, angry vocals delivered by Parisian voguing icon Kiddy Smile. Diving into this furious realm of unapologetic techno dredges up other pearls: ‘Boomer OK’, a tornado of electronic textures and beats with wild vocals transforming the track into a mental and physical blender, and ‘Cosmic Renegade’, like a diabolical anthem that harkens irresistibly back the best of 90’s German techno. 

Of course, as with all of his albums, Vitalic indulges in playing with our nerves (and bodies), alternating pure dance tracks destined for huge warehouses or festival stages with a whole swathe of sweet and soft ballads, whose romantic tones take us delicately back to Earth. ‘Lost Time’ is almost entirely ambient and beatless, as if lifted from an imaginary film soundtrack. The sublime ‘Danse Avec Moi’ perfectly distils 80s electronic pop to tell the story of the couples formed at 4am on a dancefloor, and ‘14 AM’ kicks off as a homage to Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman” before shapeshifting into earworm electronica doused in EBM. 

While Vitalic says the second volume of Dissidænce will dive into harder sounds, this first volume works as a resume of his strengths from the past twenty years, whether it’s filthy, head-spinning tracks or synth-laden love songs for a summer day.
With Dissidænce, whose powerful beats and galloping sequencers translate the social and political anger of the global pandemic, Vitalic looks into his past and channels his love for off-kilter synth sounds, skew-whiff pads, heady refrains, distorted vocals and heavy beats dripping with sex and sweat, but above all his obsessional passion for dance music.