In late January, Nantes duo Adèle Castillon and Matthieu Reynaud, better known as Videoclub, released their debut album Euphories, following several successful singles including viral hit ‘Amour Plastique’. The album looks to follow up on a number of 80’s inspired, poetic electro-pop singles with the titular Euphories, Enfance 80, En Nuit and Roi.
The latest record is a cohesive collection of 80’s inspired, throwback European electronics, youthful and charming, reminiscent of childhood, coming of age fears and young romance. This is unsurprising considering the duo’s age of just nineteen, creating a youthful energy that link’s the tracks together and strengthens their debut. Each track seamlessly transitions into the next, leaving the album to feel as if chapters in a book or scenes within a movie.
The album opens with ‘Amour Plastique’, an anthem of young love and the duo’s first single, released first in 2018. This is a perfect introduction to Videoclub for new listeners or perhaps those rediscovering the viral sensation in its proper context. The song encapsulates Videoclub’s nostalgic yet vibrant energy alongside poetic lyrics not dampened by the language barrier of an international audience.
The accompanying retro and film-inspired visuals help with this. Each visual follows a storyline similar to the song, while aesthetically building upon their 80s inspired, electric melodies. The ‘Amour Plastique’ music video perhaps being one of the best examples of this with over 60 million YouTube views to date.
The album’s following tracks almost follow a storyline of Adèle and Matthieu’s love story and the universal coming of age experience, from your late teenage years into your early twenties. With the beat of each song like a heartbeat, the pace steadily adjusts to reflect the mood of the lyrics, helping move past language barriers further.
The album possesses an impressive versatility which can particularly be seen in the track ‘Roi’, in which Matthieu takes a more prominent vocal role. Matthieu’s vocals fulfilling his part in almost a love letter or poem between the duo, demonstrating the variety of the duo’s musical talent with Matthieu’s usually seen in the composition and arrangement of their songs.
Videoclub’s duality can also be seen in the contrast between tracks such as ‘Euphories’ and ‘Trois jours’, with ‘Euphories’ being much faster and almost cinematic compared to ‘Trois jours’ which possesses an almost lullaby quality, slow and soft, perfect for late-night listening.
These details are also prominent on the last track on the album, ‘SMS’, which has notification tones woven into the background and closes out with melodies from previous tracks which many may miss at first and perfectly draws the album to a close, showing the depth of thought and passion Videoclub put into their music. The weaving of melodies from their pre-album singles creates a full circle moment for both themselves and fans who may have followed their career along the years.
This full-circle detail/moment ties each track together into one cohesive piece of reflective, reminiscent, emotional, art. Reflecting the coming of age experience and a chapter of Adèle and Matthieu’s lives, the album is triumphantly opened by ‘Amour Plastique’ and in typical Videoclub fashion reminiscently closed by ‘SMS’.
The debut album is excitingly strong, building upon their single success of previous years while leaving the listener with new tracks equally as exciting to discover. Euphories displays Adèle and Matthieu’s talent in the diversity of their tracks, while successfully keeping things together around a central theme which leaves the listener to feel as if they are too coming of age with Videoclub. I personally cannot wait to grow up further with them.
Words by Mary Atkinson
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