Cate Le Bon has successfully created an album that is both effortlessly futuristic and warmly nostalgic in equal measure, something new will be discovered and savoured by the listener on each play.

“Pompeii” Cate Le Bon’s sixth album released via Mexican Summer on Friday 4th February sees the Welsh multi-musician offer up a record crafted during the height of lockdown that is heavily laden with a claggy, subdued, melancholic claustrophobia, leaving the listener with vast amounts to uncover, much like excavating through the ashy weight of destruction that shrouds the Roman city that it shares its name.

“Pompeii" seems intent to challenge various aspects of our humanity— yearning, meaning, and even our place in this world. The warm, playful pace of her previous albums has all but been replaced with slower, more poignant tracks that reverberate with more moody, sombre tones. The way these songs are structured and arranged is very interesting, there are definite nods to Kate Bush, Stereolab, Japan, and Talk Talk.

Not only has Le Bon played virtually every instrument on the album, she has co-produced with the assistance of Samur Khouja, who also worked on 2019’s “Reward”. Also making a re-appearance from previous albums is Stella Mozgawa, of Warpaint who has become the drummer for a multitude of acts including Courtney Barnett, The XX, Regina Spektor, Kim Gordon and Kurt Vile. Le Bon’s long-time collaborator Stephen Black has also returned to contribute to the wind section, in the form of saxophones and clarinets, with further saxophone credits going to Euan Hinshelwood.

“Pompeii” serves up some compelling introspective, launching with the discordant “Dirt on the Bed” which builds slowly before erupting, the instruments are at complete odds with Le Bon’s vocal delivery, but the results are oddly soothing though it is peppered with frustration and drudgery, “On repeat, without a function, and no confession,” she laments. During the collision of art-rock with 80’s art-pop saxophone and synth on second track ‘Moderation’, she appears to baulk from normality and restraint,” Moderation /I can’t stand it” and although not a single track directly addresses the subject of isolation, it makes its ominous presence felt throughout, but there are ephemeral glimmers of levity, notably on “French Boys” with its echo-laden, jangle pop-infused tempo. Midway point “Harbour” unsurprisingly rolls and sways like the tide.

The same cloying, frenzied undercurrents present on David Bowie’s Station To Station are definitely noticeable at various points throughout the album, but especially on the delivery of the third single “Remembering Me”, “I’m not cold by nature, but this could bring me to my knees / The fountain that empties the world, too beautiful to hold.” 

However, it is the concluding track “Wheel” that steals the show. A delightful ode to the most basic of human needs, love, Le Bon contemplates “I do not think that you love yourself / I’d take you back to school / And teach you right / How to want a life / But, it takes more time than you’d tender.”  A humbling lesson in learning what it takes to find love, and the refreshing admission of there being no definitive way in way to achieve and maintain this is truly endearing to us all. These musings are a fitting footnote to end on, as it inspires hope for all mankind that there is a chance at finding a solution to such a quandary.

The way the components of each song have been stratified with her vocals being used as an additional instrumental layer leaves a very striking and lasting impression, the bass immediately draws you in, the fleeting elements of saxophone shimmer and bloom like spring flowers, the guitars sparkle, the clarinets add an interesting synergy, and the keyboards and synthesisers are almost at odds with all the other elements but all makes for an intriguing and invigorating mix that sounds, at times almost chaotic, but is equally spellbinding and beautifully melodic.

Cate Le Bon has successfully created an album that is both effortlessly futuristic and warmly nostalgic in equal measure, something new will be discovered and savoured by the listener on each play. Despite being trapped in the humdrum of lockdown for its inception, Pompeii is woven with wonderment and is a true delight.