The warm, light, uplifting singing, melodies and gourmet keyboard sounds of Eskaton are simply a treasure for the ages. Their 4th, unreleased album I Care continued further in this early 80s avant-pop/funk mode with excellent results, but this album is the perfect synthesis of Zeuhl and that really odd, clever early 80s underground pop zeitgeist. For me, this is hitting 12/15 (4.5/5) pretty consistently and could conceivably climb up to 5 stars, but for now the only track going that extra step is 'Automute'. A few of my friends actually rate this higher than 4 Visions, which just goes to show that I’ve managed to make friends with some of the most eccentric people in the world. This album is completely stunning its own way, and a work of eccentric, rare, sublime genius.

I rather like the overlapping male and female speech parts in 'Le cinéma', which has a bit of a Units sound. There’s some curious, effective male vocalizing at times as well. Fiction is their 3rd album and it’s shockingly different in style in some ways, a bit of funk and outsider pop (if you’ll excuse the absurdity of that phrase) added to the crystalline ethereal Zeuhl sound. It adds to the charm though.įor a few years the only Eskaton I listened to was 4 Visions, possibly because of its inexhaustible greatness-indeed, equal to the very best Magma and currently ranked in the top 30 albums of all-time on Gnosis-but I was just plain foolish to ignore their other albums for so long. Gobble up those breakdowns ! Half a point off for a some keyboard tracks that could have benefited from a retake. All in all a perfect blend of rawness, slickness, pop, and zeuhl feel. The production is refreshingly scrappy, which gives it an extra 80’s punky feel that I vaguely relate to Massacre’s Killing Time album.

I actually really dig the male, spoken vocals. Some of the catchiest, most driving zeuhl riffs you’ll ever hear. I bump this album on my headphones ALL THE TIME.

Eskaton automute french lyrics