Collision – Sur Les Trottoirs
Une Vie Pour Rien?
You know those labels that just manage to release hit after hit after hit? Une Vie Pour Rien? is undoubtedly one of those labels and they have been for well over two decades! Anything that these guys release, from 8°6 Crew to Swingo Porkies, is pure gold and therefor it should come as no surprise that I own nearly all of the records the French label released, including its latest – Collision’s debut LP “Sur Les Trottoirs”!
Quality over quantity you could say. Because when it comes down to the amount of records released – 2019, 2020 and 2021 have been relatively calm years for the label. And although Collision already impressed in 2019 with the self-released demo “La Vie S’échapppe”, it was the band’s debut single “Immortels” - which appeared on Une Vie Pour Rien? a year later – that delivered the knock-out, or I thought it did!
Because fast-forward to (another) year later and the incognitive trio from Nantes is back with a, dare I say it, near-perfect record! Literally everything of this release – from artwork to sound – is on point and fairly brilliant to say the least! I can’t even recall if I expected anything like this after hearing both the demo and single when they were originally released, but “Sur Les Trottoirs” is completely blowing me away nonetheless!
With influences ranging from Joy Division and Blitz to – who else then – Camera Silens, Collision delivers the cold and melancholic soundtrack for this day and age. Together with the band’s imagery (just check out the video on the left), the whole picture is dark and dreary on one hand, but on the other hand it’s a record like this that makes me feel quite the contrary – very happy indeed – simply because this LP is so damn good! Once I pressed play on Spotify or threw that black slab of wax on my turntable I just can’t stop listening to it, I need to hear songs like “La Bûcher Des Vanités”, “Dans La Glace” (the only track re-used but re-recorded from 2019’s demo), “Sur Les Trottoirs”, “Cris Hypocrites”, “Tels Que Nous Sommes” and “Série Noire” over and over again – sorry neighbors!
Easily one of my favorite full-lengths of 2021 so far - ‘nuff said! Now get this, you won’t be disappointed!
