‘Did you wish this for me, A limited square frame, Turned inside, I do what I want, I seek what I have’ (Legacy)

Maraudeur return in typically inventive style with their third album, Flaschenträger (Bottle Carrier), and follow-up to 2021’s Puissance 4 (Power Of 4).  Having previously been based in Geneva and Leipzig, the band are now spread throughout Switzerland, France, and Germany as well as having expanded to a six-piece.

What hasn’t changed though is the band’s relish for playfully detached, resolutely stripped back art-punk.  However, whereas Puissance 4 was primarily built around motorik beats and pulsing bass lines, Flaschenträger offers a somewhat more eclectic palette.  Indeed, the opening side is even more loosely assembled than expected, with tracks such as EC Blah. Blah and La Jaguar revelling in their deconstructed austerity.  Flesh is incrementally draped over these gyrating bones as the album progresses.

The flip side sees the song structures become a little tighter and the guitars a touch more more assertive within the mix.  Similarly, the vocals, alternating between French and English, evolve from off-kilter semi-spoken to more melodically layered expressions as they toy with everything from picnics in sunny car parks and controlling relationships to giant River Rhône catfish as allegory for a world being gaslit as it plunges into the abyss.  This blend lands to particular effect on the tautly restrained Clever Sneaker, the wryly shimmering Syncope, and the haunting unfurling of (Legacy).