Scenius 2026
13 Billion Dark Years
Riding the wave into gloom ‘n’ doom, Anglo-French duo deal with existential dread and drive their panic to the dancefloor.
It took Fabrice Nau and Steve Whitfield some audacity to ask Midge Ure‘s tour team to join him on the road, yet this little ensemble’s audio values deserve such a spotlight. The two friends’ third full-length offering demonstrates how logical their progression is, as “13 Billion Dark Years” follows 2020’s “Enough Fears” and “Life Is A Thing” from 2023 with a fresh loosely conceptual set. The ten pieces on display may dip the musicians’ well-concealed joie de vivre into velveteen feelings of profound depth, but the discotheque slant of the band’s synthesizer-wrapped songs will somewhat compromise the overall sense of derailed destiny. And when they intone the line “If it was not full-on, I could keep my fingers crossed and dry” on the record’s titular track, the listener can’t help relating to the pair’s homespun wisdom.
While analogue keyboards provide a perfect entry point to the duo’s sonic domain for those who prefer their gloaming warm, with Nau’s deadpan vocal delivery transporting new-wave lovers back in time, the harmonic backdrop and sparse grooves woven into Whitfield’s production add a contemporary sheen to complement the group’s memorable melodies. They creep to the core of one’s psyche on the stroboscopic, piano-sprinkled “Beat The Light” and the even more upbeat, deceptively simplistic “Swift As Light” – the album’s second-to-last and second numbers, both as sweet and shiny as any early-’80s-rooted pop tunes should be – yet the streamlined, throbbing “Golden By No Means” goes for a lysergic approach to house-like arrangement. And before “Blink” brings it all, via faux-orchestral passages, to a cathartic, dramatic close, there are arresting cuts, including the mildly belligerent “Every Time” that elegantly marches to delirium and the uplifting “Guesswork” that reveals riveting instrumental vignettes under the topline, to keep the punter’s feet on shuffle.
Still, it’s “All In Good Time” which pitches folk balladry into the platter’s blackness that seems to open another dimension for this combo to dive in. Next time, perhaps- as of now, “13 Billion Dark Years” is a trip worth embarking on.
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