S16 by Woodkid | Album Review
Lemoine’s sophomore album draws from industrial settings to create an evocative experience.
Woodkid is the stage name of French musician, graphic designer, and music video director Yoann Lemoine. His visual work in music videos has garnered him the opportunity to direct for the likes of Taylor Swift (“Back to December”), Lana Del Rey (“Born to Die” & “Blue Jeans”), Drake & Rihanna (“Take Care”) & Katy Perry (“Teenage Dream”).
His musical career under the moniker Woodkid began back in 2011 with the release of his first EP, Iron. My first introduction to his sound was through the 2013 single “Run Boy Run.” Its frantic percussion pulled me into the story Lemoine was crafting instantly. It would be seven years before Yoann would release his follow-up to 2013’s The Golden Age.
The record, named after the 15th element on the periodic table, Sulfur, was inspired by industrial work and the processes around it.
Lemoine told Nothing But Hope And Passion the following around the development of his sophomore album:
“When I started to make this record I knew that I wanted to do something industrial, I wasn’t really sure what it meant at that time but it was triggering a lot of ideas musically and visually. I started to visit many industrial places like oil platforms, coal mines or nuclear power places to get inspiration from. I also went to meet the industrial workers to see how the machines work and to get something out of the process of their aesthetics. What really nourished me was the industrial process of using sulphur in the creation of fertilizer. I think the fact that sulphur on the one hand is the base of life and can nourish life but in the other hand can be used as a deadly and horrible weapon by humans is what fascinated me the most about it. It is this ambiguity behind sulphur which is equally frightening and attractive in a world that is also equally frightening and attractive at the same time.“
The album opens with the heavy industrial sound of the lead single, “Goliath.” I really like how these oppressive metallic sounds mix with the softness of the piano, strings, and Yoann’s voice. It sucks you into this realm of darkness.
Lemoine told Le Parisien the following about the meaning of the track:
“It is a love song that talks about a larger subject, the notion of dominance and being dominated, and the hope that the individual can fight against the great forces. In the coal mine of the clip, we can see lots of things, the smallness of man in the face of the ecological challenge, in the face of the rise of the extreme right in our countries, which terrifies me and makes me angry. Musically, I also needed a track that would transition between the two albums. I’ll pick up where we left off and take you somewhere else, where my sound and my words went.”
This sweeping miasmic sense of division pours out in the opening lines, “The chest and the head divided by a white laser/ The pattern of mad strobes, you’re going haywire/ In your eyes, night cold, I see the end of us/ You’re playing your best role but the mask shatters.” It attempts to shake awareness around the blight of hatred, environmental crisis, and inequality around those in power.
Yoann really brings the drama to “In Your Likeness.” The orchestration swells to bring such a vastness to this track. This builds to a fevered pitch by the song’s midpoint, only to abruptly stop and glide back over the backing piano. Lemoine continues to weave the themes of the world’s current evil effects on him into this track.
He uses the allusion to religion in the lines, “I know I’m not made in your likeness/ You’re not made for my darkness/ I know I’m not made in your likeness/ I do try but I’m hopeless,” to display that he’s not like those divisive individuals who use God to justify their actions.
It also underlines Lemoine’s fight with his own internal demons. The bridge, “Straining fights and Demerol/ I’ve never been on time for you/ I break the rules and protocols/ And I just keep on missing you,” points towards his own battles with depression and substance abuse as he tries not to fall into the void.
Yoann dives deeper into his history of substance abuse on “Pale Yellow.” The swells slowly until it breaks into the scattered heaviness of industrial beats. I really like the bridge where this pulsing sound eats away everything. It feels very cinematic. It also conveys Lemoine’s pain surrounding his addiction beautifully. He released the following statement on Instagram regarding the song’s meaning:
“‘Pale Yellow’ is a pretty intimate song about being addicted to antidepressants. The idea of addiction explored in the song is about what’s supposedly the last time when you get your last fix. This idea that ‘this is my last drink, and tomorrow will be better.’”
This pale yellow substance has held such a power over him in his life. The struggle to go back just one more time can be heard in the second verse, “Pale yellow/ Relieve the weight and give it a last go/ And make it your best shot.” The imagery of him pouring this down the drain shows his attempt to empty his life of the vice he has used to cope.
Coming off the weight of the last track, “Enemy” has a real sense of sorrow brought out by the orchestration. This has a bit more of a pop structure to it. This wilted sound vanishes into a cold beat and piano by the chorus.
There is an underlying spiritual tone to Yoann’s moment of need. His self-destructive habits have him reaching to his partner to give him clarity, “I will keep on waiting for a sign from you/ I don’t know how my heart can survive without affection/ In the light of your forgiveness, let me open up to you/ And I will lеt you see the war inside of me.” This need to pacify this building of dread and hopelessness can be cast out across the greater population and try to grapple with hateful rhetoric, crippling debt, and discrimination.
Lemoine moves forward with the feelings of emptiness around the end of a relationship on “Highway 27.” The hollowness of metallic percussive beats echoes his dissociative state. The melancholic swell of the orchestra breaks this. All of this really brings out that sense of emptiness that Yoann feels. The imagery of the catatonic state driving away from the death of this relationship really captures you, “The rain on thе sunroof of the GMC/ And the waving dance of a Mai Tai Magic Tree/ Thе shoulder blades locked to the leather seat/ I’m lost and confused, this love is a counterfeit.”
“Reactor” blends English and Japanese throughout the song. This mixed with the glistening strings and piano, gives off a much more contemplative state. The choir of voices brings brightness to this previously cold metallic world he has created. Yoann’s words, on the surface, speak of the pain surrounding the death of a relationship. I also get a sense of global sorrow around the division of people due to toxic ideologies, “Nothing ever stays undivided/ No, nothing ever stays undivided/ See what remains of love in the acid/ See what is left of us, how we ended.” The gravity of this song makes this feel like a very pivotal moment.
We continue to get a brightness on “Drawn to You.” While pained in their tension, the strings give a gray brightness to the landscape. Even the beats, which still hold to the industrial motif that Lemoine has sown into this project, have a softer edge to them. He radiates with a sense of pained longing over this lost relationship, “We feel the void is so close/ To disassemble in my mind/ But my brain is so drawn to you/ So drawn to you.” He even calls back to his earlier song “Pale Yellow” with the line, “I don’t deal so well with pain relievers.” Here, it shows his need to feel this hurt and work through the emotions it brings.
“Shift” keeps a much more solemn vibe. Lemoine’s vocals are haunting against the large, empty space sparsely populated by piano and strings. Yoann stated during a live listening of the album that this track was based around the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015. You can hear the fissure of pain and fear wash over all those affected by the attacks in the lines, “The chaos won/ What have you done?/ The universe shifted/ And all I loved is lost/ All I loved is lost.”
“So Handsome Hello” is more of a tone shift than the prior tracks on the album. Even Lemoine gave a cheeky take during his live listen that this was his “nasty gay one.” The sound is more sensuous as the melody and earthy percussion slink around you. It permeates that come hither feeling. A palpable sense of desire oozes through the chorus, “Just come and grab my face/ And never let it go/ My pleasure is at stake/ Now lift me slow.” He seeks to pull energy from this man to feel alive again.
“Horizons into Battlegrounds” seems to channel us to one focal point as Yoann’s deep vocals melt into the slow-flowing piano melody. I appreciate the bare nature of this song compared to the industrious and electronic sounds that make the body of the rest of this project. This really focuses on Lemoine’s ache around the death of his relationship and all that comfort that it once brought, “Let the silence ease the wildness/ Your embrace clears the storm in my head/ Why do I love you more when I’m wasted?/ I only welcome care when I’m wounded.” This barren treatment really sells the internal battle with himself that he is having over feelings that still haunt him.
The final track on the album, “Minus Sixty One,” focuses on being aware of the world around you. This is scored by an absolutely cinematic orchestral backing that brings to mind the sweeping landscape of the world cast against a changing climate. The Suginami Junior Chorus only adds to this monumental feeling. In a live listening of the record, Lemoine said the following about this song:
“Probably the most important song. The whole album leads to this song. I hope it inspires you. Maybe the whole idea is not to find happiness inside but something outside of us, on a cause that is not self-centered.”
Yoann puts a spotlight on the apathy that high-power men have to the ever-growing climate crisis, “Minus sixty-one/ Now the water level rises high/ In my cold paradise/ Where men sit in circles and talk numbers/ I never really liked/ The way they think of life/ As some kind of gamble/ And watch the city drown.” The Suginami Junior Chorus really gives a powerful tone to the song. This sense of introspection is a very poignant way to close out this project.
Having only heard one track by Woodkid, I was blown away by the vivid nature that Yoann creates with this soundscape. Its epic feeling comes from the powerful arrangements of the orchestration, industrial beats, piano, and vocals.
All of this adds such a power weight to the subjects of addiction, sadness, environmental destruction, and division. I couldn’t find one song that really felt lackluster or half-baked. Everything has such depth that I think many listeners will be taken by the experience this album provides from start to finish. I think anyone who enjoys experimental pop, electronic, or alternative music will be pleased by the elements Woodkid has brought together on this sophomore outing. My overall thoughts on S16:
Loved it: “Goliath,” “In Your Likeness,” “Pale Yellow,” “Enemy,” “Reactor,” “So Handsome Hello,” “Horizons into Battlegrounds,” & “Minus Sixty One.”
Liked it: “Drawn to You,” “Highway 27”, & Shift.”
Disliked it: None
My overall rating: 8.5 out of 10.
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