Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Here are two other albums that slipped my reviewing net this year. First is Juniore, a Parisian trio who play an enticing variety of retro-pop that draws on 1960s psychedelia, surf music and yé-yé, the Frenchified take on British Invasion bands — so called in mimicry of the “yeah”s in hits such as The Beatles’ “She Loves You”.Trois, Deux, Un (released by Le Phonographe UK) is the follow-up to 2020’s Un, Deux, Trois. Its mirrored name shows how enclosed Juniore’s imaginative world is, and also how completely they inhabit it. Lead singer Anna Jean has a breathy voice that goes nonchalantly between singing and speech. In her dreamy tones we hear a reverie of Françoise Hardy. The music is an intoxicating throwback to an era of twangy guitars, swinging basslines, pounding drums and swirling electric organ. The daughter of Nobel-winning novelist JMG Le Clézio, Jean writes lyrics with a sharp eye and cool gaze. “Déjà vu” is about experiencing the same thing twice, an apt topic for retro-music. “Méditerranée” is a delightfully breezy ode to sunbathing in a Côte d’Azur unravaged by climate change or far-right racism. Time is turned back to a fantasy past by Trois, Deux, Un.★★★★☆Tindersticks’ Soft Tissue (released by City Slang) is the latest album from a band of such consistency, longevity and self-sufficiency as to seem timeless. Formed in Nottingham in 1991 and reborn in France, where singer Stuart Staples moved in 2006, they are locked into the spiral of a deep groove. Each song is imprinted with their signature style without becoming repetitive or self-conscious.Soft Tissue is soulful and quietly insistent, in a sleeve-tugging, whisper-in-the-ear way. Guitars murmur and horns softly flare. Subtle percussion draws us closer. The warm throb of an electric organ gives way to the cinematic glow of a string section. Staples croons in an idiosyncratic manner, as though English is both native tongue and second language. Sometimes the various elements grow in intensity and volume. The songs are about moments of crisis and recovery. To borrow from Curtis Mayfield, Tindersticks keep on keeping on. ★★★★☆
