Following the release EP Dust & Disorders, French Synth pop Project Fragrance. is set to release its debut album Now That I’m Real—a collection of 11 haunting tracks and semi-dreamed stories.
One of these stories in the aptly titled “Hazy Strobes”, a collaborative track between Fragrance.’s Matthieu Roche, and Hélène de Thoury from Hante. and Minuit Machine.
The soft vocals in “Hazy Strobes” have a overall melancholic feel with Thoury’s taking the forefront, accented by Roche’s own resigned sadness. Lyrically the song describes worn-out characters who realize they were unable to heal their wounds on their own.
The video is constructed using scenes from the 1933’s Ecstasy—a Czech-Austrian romantic drama directed by Gustav Machatý and starring Hedy Lamarr—slowly obscured by multi-coloured pastel dots.
Now That I’m Real sees Matthieu Roche open up his inner world to collaborations with different creative minds — both visually, with the participation of parisian club kid artist Tiggy Thorn and photographer Marie Rouge, as musically, with Canadian musician Maya Postepski (aka Princess Century, known for her work within Austra and TR/ST) as well as Hélène de Thoury as seen with “Hazy Strobes”.
Fragrance.’s debut album will be released on February 22nd on parisian underground label Synth Religion and will be available on gold vinyls and digipack.
Featured photo by Marie Rouge