For Simon Mills, life after his former collaboration with Nail Tolliday known as Bent includes a new project called Napoleon. On its self-titled debut, this new solo effort draws heavily from Bent’s legacy of lush, complex electronic layers mixed with melodies that range from operatic to street-legit. As Napoleon, Mills delivers a complicated, fun, and sophisticated collection of tracks that form one of the year’s most intriguing albums.
As far as electronic/dance albums go, it’s hard to find one in 2011 as multi-faceted as this is. Napoleon features a staggering array of moods and rhythms encased in a digital aura, and each blend succeeds wonderfully. Low-key disco beats get glam treatments, thought-provoking vocal samples are spread over unique house rhythms, and seemingly countless other vanguard arrangements turn the album into stereo modern art.
While each track is unique from the others, some share elements that connect them in uncommon ways. An early recording-era aesthetic in the vocals on “Love of a Lifetime” and “Lament” while they’re layered upon modern, uptempo electronic rhythms gives the album its curious future-past vibe. The hip, savvy vocals on “Post Cards” and “Two Timin’ My Mind” provide Napoleon with love-lost balladeering as both tracks feature distinctly different, but equally complex, digital layering. And while those provide continuity through the album, songs like “Rut” and its instructional tape and robotic vocal samples over a shimmering music track are what sets this album apart.
For fans of Bent, and other electronic dance pioneers, Napoleon is clearly the next logical association. This album is a very wide step in the staircase of the genre’s progression, and now and for years to come, the intricate harmony of man and machine will be a great example of blending art with electronics in music.
