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France's Benjamin Biolay left behind his provocative Buenos Aires cycle after two acclaimed albums, Palermo Hollywood in 2016 and the platinum-certified Volver in 2017). Grand Prix is nostalgic and unquestionably autobiographical. Its title references Formula 1 racing's excitement, drama, heroes, and tragedies. "Grand Prize" artfully contrasts racing with his own life experiences and the sacrifices he's made in pursuit of art. Of course his romantic life plays a major part: Ex-wife Chiara Mastroianni makes two guest appearances, former lover Keren Ann makes another, and current girlfriend, actress Anaïs Demoustier, assists on two others. The younger Biolay loved the Smiths, Happy Mondays, New Order, and the Strokes and he pays homage to them all and more, with a small band, analog synths, complete guitar and drum takes, and live vocals in songs that caress elements of Krautrock, post-punk, Brit-and electro-pop, Euro-disco, chanson, and MPB. Single "Comment Est Ta Peine," with Demoustier, opens with a disco-phonic synth similar to Daft Punk's "Get Lucky." However, the organic drums, sharp, funky guitars, and rigid bassline are adamantly rockist. Biolay's lyrics enquire about his lover's existential pain, contrasting it egotistically and ironically with his own. Mastroianni appears on the poignant yet hooky "Visage Pâle," where Biolay claims with too much protestation that "I have less appetite than sincerity/Love has a price that I can no longer pay…." On "Comme Une Voiture Volée," guitars ring with longing and excitement (think M83!) as drums and swirling synths propel the mix up and out. His lyrics offer only longing: "My heart is like an old engine when you lift the bonnet. You're as beautiful as a stolen car.…" The chanson ballad "Vendredi 12" questions a lost lover's memories while betraying the depths of his own abjection and loneliness. The title track is introduced by a nostalgic organ and distinctly "French rock" dancefloor beat. It's an uptempo elegy for Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi, who died from his racing injuries at age 24. For "Papillon Noir," with Demoustier, he channels New Order's dancefloor rock beautifully. Again, despite the joy in the mix, his lyrics are resigned to always being in a temporary place when it comes to love: "I am an evening visitor, I am the vestiges of the dark sun/I am the night watchman, I am the bizarre boy...who has nothing to do/I am your only alibi, your temporary libido…." Closer "Interlagos (Saudade)" touches on the 1994 death of Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senn, then revels in Biolay's own tears, joys, and small victories; it's a dreamy lament, complete with choirs, strings, and shuffling percussion, elevated by the presence of his daughter Anna (credited as "Bambi") on backing vocals. Ultimately, Grand Prix is Biolay's finest album since 2009's La Superbe, if not his best overall, and is easily his most revealing and vulnerable. No longer the enfant terrible of modern chanson, the singer, songwriter, and producer is now one of France's most evocative -- and necessary -- artists.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

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There is no question that Benjamin Biolay is heir to Serge Gainsbourg's nouvelle chanson throne. Five of his previous six albums have re-created it in his own image, using everything from canny angular pop, punk, and skittering Euro funk to electro, Saravah soul, cafe jazz, and ye-ye while remaining devoted to the sophisticated gospel of Gainsbourg. Palermo Hollywood is a trademark Biolay album, chock-full of his irony, wicked wit, offbeat sensuality, and irresistible, catchy melodies and arrangements. But it is also something other. Most of it was cut in the Buenos Aires district the album was titled after, a haunt for many ex-pat Europeans amid glorious old world architecture and subterranean street life. Biolay has a small apartment there. Using Argentine musicians as well as his usual stable in France, he delivers many of these songs with a new array of rhythms that include cumbia and tango. He co-wrote several songs with Uruguayan/Argentinian actress/vocalist Sofia Wilhelmi. She duets on the single "Palermo Queens" and on the accordion-fueled cumbia-cum-tarantella-cum-rock tune "Palermo Soho." On the former, his protagonist is a romantically rejected flaneur who drinks and smokes too much in an effort to hide his heartbreak. In the latter, he is drunk too, but he takes in the decadent street scene and celebrates it matter of factly. Passion and pleasure may seem journalistic here, but they are overflowing; an excess of desire is all in the lyric puns. "La Noche Ya No Existe" is an electro-dancehall cumbia with mariachi horns performed in duet with Alika, the Uruguayan reggae star. It juxtaposes romance under a big sky in a world destroyed by multinational corporations. "Tendresse Année Zéro" is a gorgeous spoken word poem about loving and losing, with drum loops, strings, hand percussion, and analog synths creating a sonic panorama for pre-dawn romantic anguish. The brief "Borges Futbol Club" is a hazy, jazz waltz with lush strings, whistling, and a killer bassline, offset by the sampled sound of a soccer announcer raving about a goal. "Pas Sommeil" is a long, groovy, modern chanson that serves as an anthem for Biolay's eternal ne'er do well who calmly -- and unrepentantly -- narrates his many losses in life. The music fuses luxuriant cinematic strings to a spaghetti western melodic theme infused with a Bach organ fugue and squalling electric rock guitars and drums. Already heady with tones and textures, Jorge Luis Borges is sampled reading one of his poems. "Pas Di'ci" combines new wave and stadium rock tropes in a grand chanson frame. Palermo Hollywood is an expansion of Biolay's musical palette. Like Gainsbourg, he relentlessly explores new sounds in which to frame his lyrics and melodies. His consummate skill in assembling the familiar with the exotic goes beyond anything he's done before. He poetically renders his non-committal, willing societal rejects and anti-heros as three-dimensional characters who speak effortlessly, as the listener hums along, often nodding in assent. © Thom Jurek /TiVo

Following his Home duets album with wife Chiara Mastroianni, and Clara et Moi soundtrack, A L'Origine is the fourth solo studio LP from French singer/songwriter Benjamin Biolay. Influenced by the likes of Serge Gainsbourg and Etienne Daho, its 12 jazz-pop nouvelle chansons includes the single "Mon Amour M'A Bais."© Jon O'Brien /TiVo

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There is no question that Benjamin Biolay is heir to Serge Gainsbourg's nouvelle chanson throne. Five of his previous six albums have re-created it in his own image, using everything from canny angular pop, punk, and skittering Euro funk to electro, Saravah soul, cafe jazz, and ye-ye while remaining devoted to the sophisticated gospel of Gainsbourg. Palermo Hollywood is a trademark Biolay album, chock-full of his irony, wicked wit, offbeat sensuality, and irresistible, catchy melodies and arrangements. But it is also something other. Most of it was cut in the Buenos Aires district the album was titled after, a haunt for many ex-pat Europeans amid glorious old world architecture and subterranean street life. Biolay has a small apartment there. Using Argentine musicians as well as his usual stable in France, he delivers many of these songs with a new array of rhythms that include cumbia and tango. He co-wrote several songs with Uruguayan/Argentinian actress/vocalist Sofia Wilhelmi. She duets on the single "Palermo Queens" and on the accordion-fueled cumbia-cum-tarantella-cum-rock tune "Palermo Soho." On the former, his protagonist is a romantically rejected flaneur who drinks and smokes too much in an effort to hide his heartbreak. In the latter, he is drunk too, but he takes in the decadent street scene and celebrates it matter of factly. Passion and pleasure may seem journalistic here, but they are overflowing; an excess of desire is all in the lyric puns. "La Noche Ya No Existe" is an electro-dancehall cumbia with mariachi horns performed in duet with Alika, the Uruguayan reggae star. It juxtaposes romance under a big sky in a world destroyed by multinational corporations. "Tendresse Année Zéro" is a gorgeous spoken word poem about loving and losing, with drum loops, strings, hand percussion, and analog synths creating a sonic panorama for pre-dawn romantic anguish. The brief "Borges Futbol Club" is a hazy, jazz waltz with lush strings, whistling, and a killer bassline, offset by the sampled sound of a soccer announcer raving about a goal. "Pas Sommeil" is a long, groovy, modern chanson that serves as an anthem for Biolay's eternal ne'er do well who calmly -- and unrepentantly -- narrates his many losses in life. The music fuses luxuriant cinematic strings to a spaghetti western melodic theme infused with a Bach organ fugue and squalling electric rock guitars and drums. Already heady with tones and textures, Jorge Luis Borges is sampled reading one of his poems. "Pas Di'ci" combines new wave and stadium rock tropes in a grand chanson frame. Palermo Hollywood is an expansion of Biolay's musical palette. Like Gainsbourg, he relentlessly explores new sounds in which to frame his lyrics and melodies. His consummate skill in assembling the familiar with the exotic goes beyond anything he's done before. He poetically renders his non-committal, willing societal rejects and anti-heros as three-dimensional characters who speak effortlessly, as the listener hums along, often nodding in assent.© Thom Jurek /TiVo