Member of the collective Broken Social Scene (with Feist, to whom we compare her style of indie-pop songs, by the way) and of the captivating experimental pop duo All Hands_Make Light (with Efrim Menuck), Montreal singer-songwriter Ariel Engle is giving his solo project a boost, five years after his first album. Co-written and co-directed with Warren Spicer (Plants and Animals), XO Skeleton is first illustrated by the way in which it highlights the singer’s magnificent voice, combining indie pop and soul with disarming ease. Let us then salute Engle’s pen, his elegance, his way of telling big stories from small details: “ “God forbid you should die” / The life insurance broker said to me “, she says on the title song, before elaborating on the meaning of life and the fate it has in store for us. His excellent collaborators weave ambiences borrowing from jazz and indie rock behind his voice, giving the whole a delicate and foggy climate which prevails over less memorable melodies.
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