Led by brothers Stefan and Yavor Lilov, Swiss funkateers L’Eclair have always sounded like consummate pro session musos who’ve developed fruitful telepathy in the studio across three prior albums (they’ve adapted that prowess to backing W.I.T.C.H. on the Zambian psych-rockers’ recent tours).
And while 2018’s Cruise Control EP and the full-length Polymood flaunt both the debonair funkiness of ’70s library music and the elegance of that same decade’s best smooth fusion, Cloud Drifter doubles down on several dulcet-toned vocalists to augment L’Eclair’s sonic charms. There’s even rapping from the enigmatic Pink Siifu on “Replica M001,” which is a wonderful plot twist in the group’s catalog.
Right from the glossy, bubbly opener “Memphis,” L’Eclair sound as if they’ve tailored Cloud Drifter for continental beach listening. The wonky synth motif that zigzags across the mid-tempo bustle adds crucial contrast. The title track purveys Balearic bliss-out in trip-hop drag and buoyed by Ines’ dreamy vocals, while the ambience of the Phoebe Coco-assisted “Ocean Mind” aptly brings to mind sea spray. “Humanopolis M001” starts as an ethereal fantasia with wispy female chants blending into a perilous choir before evolving into an Air-like seducer.
Despite its title, “The Glitch” traffics in sparkly, slow-motion disco with languorous coos by Girl Named GOLDEN. “Odessos” reigns as the LP’s dance-floor banger, rippling with sci-fi-film-synth arpeggios and glazed with mysterious-lady space whispers. On “Run,” Gelli Haha’s deadpan vocals counterbalance flamboyant, chase-scene disco-funk featuring a bassline that twangs like that in Medium Medium’s “Hungry So Angry.” Cloud Drifter sounds like it cost a million euros to produce. May it bring in that much moolah to these sonic sophisticates.
