Pompeii

Description

Pompeii, the sixth studio album from Cate Le Bon and follow-up to her 2019 Mercury-nominated Reward, carries a title steeped in history that hints at the apocalypse. The sound is minimal in places, and the lyrics oscillate between introspection and direct address. Cate mainly wrote the album on bass and composed it entirely alone in an unbroken void. She plays all the instruments (except drums and saxophones) and largely recorded the album alone with her long-time collaborator and co-producer Samur Khouja in Cardiff, Wales. The primary objective of this project was to emulate the religious sensibility of one of Tim Presley's paintings, hung on the studio wall in Cardiff like a meditative image, and which was reproduced in Cate's image to illustrate the cover of Pompeii. Here she is with her fist to her heart, robust and saintly. Cate wondered how to make music that sounds like a painting. This is where Pompeii's characteristic synth sounds come in, from cherished instruments such as the Yamaha DX7; bass lines inspired by 1980s Japanese city pop and designed to bring joy and abandon; vocal arrangements that add memorable depth to the melodic fabric of each song; jazzy percussion from Stella Mozgawa sent from lockdown Australia. The songs on Pompeii seem suspended in time, both current and instantaneous, yet reactionary and dada-esque in their insistence on being playful, satirical, and surreal. From the fiery bass of "Moderation" to the clanging saxophone of "Running Away," a story exquisite by nature but ultimately doomed to failure, escape as a foil to the outside world. With Pompeii, Cate Le Bon's audacious tribute to memory, compassion, and the inevitability of death is built to last.