The Last Time I Break

Autre Ne Veut “Promises”

One thing I’ve noticed in a lot of the quasi-R&B music that has become big in indie-ish circles over the past couple years is that the artists all favor elliptical song structures to more standard, fleshed-out compositions. Take this song, for example – it comes across as a pop song, but it’s trimmed down to pretty much the parts you might sing to yourself in the shower, and it’s so repetitive that it might be the only part you remember, or like to sing. There’s something very clever about this – it’s approaching a generally lush pop genre with the crude sensibilities of punk – but I dunno, I favor formalism more and more as I get older. I don’t think this approach works all the time for Autre Ne Veut or for others in his cohort, but it comes together on this song, and intensifies a single emotion rather than dilute it with digressions.

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