The Beat Surrender

Despite hailing from Paris the dup that comprise Herman Dune don’t really give out anything with their latest album Next Year In Zion to suggest that the city and it’s musical heritage has had any kind of impact on them.

By that I mean that the more obvious dance element of the city has been avoided, which is of course fair enough, likewise the cinematic and lounge styles that a lot of French artists take on is also avoided. Which is all well and good if you want to be different, but here they are just left with some fairly dull, hook free tracks that lend more to the singer-songwriter genre than anything else.

The result is an album that doesn’t stand up against predecessor Giant, I liked that album and the tracks did get under my skin. That isn’t the cae this time round, although I have to say lyrically things are still as strong as ever.