Given Adam Naas’ voice and the stripped down visuals on this second album, you might have expected a load of stripped-back and post-soul gems, or perhaps even a disco revival. The Frenchman’s first EP appeared in the autumn of 2016, just months after Prince’s death—difficult to believe that was mere coincidence. Two years later, his début album landed somewhere between glam, pop and soul, serving only to confirm this princely lineage. Today, however, Adam Naas shows that if there’s one thing he’s learned from the Kid of Minneapolis, it’s his taste for freedom and artistic independence. He’s defined in equal measure by his characteristic fluidity between genres and influences.

On Goldie and The Kiss of Andromeda, he loses (for the most part) the electronic sounds, or any other gimmicks from the 2010s, in favour of guitars (acoustic, electric and pedal-steel), piano, violins, backing vocals—all infused with this feeling that all the musicians are swaying gently behind their instruments. The album has an old-fashioned feel to it, but it doesn’t sound retro or nostalgic. Adam Naas has set sail, floating off into a musical territory which borders 60s country-pop, 80s new wave, choral gospel and 90s/2000s indie folk.

With guitars that twinkle like fireflies in the moonlight, Adam Naas reveals himself to be something of an offbeat folk songwriter. Think Sparklehorse or Mac DeMarco. Although you won’t be thinking most of the time… Unplug and let yourself drift away to these dreamy, cottony songs. They’ll sound even better this summer, shirtless under the stars. Qobuzissime! – Stéphane Deschamps