Hard To Follow might be QUÉTIER’s first album, but it isn’t the first musical project by Sandrine, best known for her work on TV. Review of a lovely opus.
HARD TO FOLLOW – QUÉTIER
With these colours on the cover of Hard to Follow, Sandrine Quétier’s aura seems soft. It leads me to think that this record is made of folk-pop with light rock accents. If there are some quieter tunes, leaning towards these genres, it’d be missing a great deal of QUÉTIER’s soul to stop there. The artist is resolutely rock and, if it’s surprising to those who know her on the TV screen, it actually makes a lot of sense, from her voice to the first guitar riffs. Those are from Walkin’ On A Wire and are convincing straight away. With her voice, QUÉTIER takes her time, balanced and with a texture unbeknownst to most. She keeps convincing me with the mysterious aura of Hard to Follow, flirting with post-punk. So yeah, it’s a great debut and in English.
From the groovy bass lines on Deliverance to an intimate singing, heartfelt, on No Fear, QUÉTIER plays with genres without straying away from her core and freedom. Even with the electro-pop-oriented American Psycho, she’s smart, and the guitars growl on a sincerely bright chorus. It becomes my favourite in an instant. However, for the lyrics, I have another: Change. Surrounded by synths, the singer talks to her generation and others, older and younger. It’s a call to unity, for all to join forces and change the world for the better, and uses a maternal tone, always kind and never patronizing. It’s not an easy balance to maintain, but it’s beautifully done here.
In the series of softer tracks, after Change comes Mountains. Its atmosphere is smooth and soothing, like a morning in the countryside. It doesn’t come as a surprise as it was indeed recorded in the countryside, in Deux-Sèvres, France, along with the rest of the album. Though it’s a refined one, it doesn’t last too long. Some bits of it can be found in the three interludes named Please, Hold The Line, which bind the record together, and in My Kingdom. As closers, Shoot Again has a great bite, and Stay is pretty catchy. No wonder why it’s been placed at the end. The idea is brilliant and makes me want to spin it all again. So, here with Hard to Follow QUÉTIER shows off her rocker’s heart. Don’t miss it.
