LadyDot Review: ProleteR – Fairuz (Album)
The most positive side of Swing Hop. ProleteR – ‘Fairuz’ – album review
I remember the day I discovered ProleteR’s music. It was quite recently, 2 years ago. I was just starting to work on setting up my blog. And his song “U Can Get It” and then the rest of his discography made me motivated and believe that if I just tried, I would achieve my goal. As you can see, it all worked out, as I have been writing Electro Swing articles for you for almost two years now.
That made me even happier when I found out that ProleteR would be releasing his new album in the autumn. I knew that through his music I would be reminded of that state two years ago. And the excitement when I discovered his previous singles and EPs. I was not wrong! Today, especially for you, I have prepared a review of the album “Fairuz”.
“Because of you”
In a post on Instagram, ProleteR wrote that the album “Fairuz” is the “child” of his other EPs – “Life Playing Tricks” and “Bubbles”. I think this baby has grown and matured very quickly. :) Already in the first track, ‘Because of you’, you can hear that unmistakable vibe that I discovered when listening to those two aforementioned EPs. This song is incredibly cheerful and joyful – this is probably due to ‘Bubbles’. And with the influence of the ‘Life Playing Tricks’ album, it’s very laid-back, swing hoppy, just perfect.
“Human nature”
When I heard the intro, I immediately thought to myself that ProleteR was very much inspired by the well-known and much-loved “Puttin’ On the Ritz” when creating it. Do you get that impression too? He invited Lyre Le Temps to collaborate on this track, which I think is the perfect move. You can hear this incredible strength of French artists, expression and creativity here. There’s a lot going on in ‘Human nature’: strong beats, a whole lot of instruments, Ludovic’s distinctive vocals and old samples. This chaos doesn’t bother me at all – on the contrary, I’m eager for more!
“My Baby’s gone”
As you know, I am a huge fan of French electronic music. In my opinion, the country’s artists have an incredible sense of rhythm and wonderfully combine different musical genres to create this distinctive, unique style. “My Baby’s gone” makes me think of the work of the C2C collective, or rather their track “Down the Road” (I totally recommend you to listen to their album “Tetra” – it’s a real banger!). Perhaps because of that distinctive record scratching, perhaps because of the effects superimposed on the vocals, or perhaps because of those fantastic samples. ProleteR is a master at picking the perfect samples and on ‘My Baby’s gone’ he did it just perfectly. You know, I now have a mash-up of these two tracks in my head – and to me it sounds really brilliant!
“Closer”
Thanks to “Closer”, I took another wonderful musical journey. Again, I took my memories back to my Eurotrip this year, during which we also visited France. We listened to a lot of ProleteR’s songs, and in my opinion, ‘Closer’ perfectly reflects his style of music making. A song is supposed to be as light as a cloud, from which the sun slowly emerges and with its rays illuminates everything around it – “Closer” is exactly like that.
“La Fumée des souvenirs”
When I listen to “La Fumée des souvenirs”, an association with the “Rookie” EP comes to mind – more specifically, the track “Throw It Back”. What I like most about this song is, of course, the rap! Ruinz Ason did a brilliant job here, as he raps in both French (which I absolutely love!) and English. Also noteworthy is this rich instrumentation – especially that wonderful, sentimental piano sound.
“The hard way”
In one of his posts on Instagram, ProleteR admitted that he produced all the songs on the album “Fairuz” himself. This craftsmanship and this perfection can be heard, among others, in the track “The hard way” – a nostalgic, very expansive track that fits perfectly into swing hop. Every beat on the drums makes my heart start beating in exactly the same rhythm – an amazing feeling!
“Les fiancés du monde”
I’ll tell you a secret: after my trip to France this year, I decided to start learning French again. So that one day I can finally understand the lyrics of songs that I like, that somehow make me feel better. That’s what ‘Les fiancés du monde’ is like – cheerful, motivating, like the whole ‘Bubbles’ EP. This similarity cannot be disputed.
“Blessings”
This is another track where we can hear that fantastic Ruinz Ason’s rap. I don’t know why, but that great swing hop beat makes me think of music from the early 21st century. “Blessings” is probably the most straightforward composition from the Fairuz album – there’s some saxophone, some vocals with effects, but not really many elements. And it’s this simplicity that makes this track a real pleasure to listen to.
“Fairy Tales”
I love old movies, old fairy tales and old music. In general, I seem to have a very old soul. And “Fairy Tales” is an amalgamation of all that I love most. The violins, moving with their poignant sound, totally enchanted me. This truly fairy-tale and cinematic mood comes over me very much when I listen to “Fairy Tales”. Do you also? :)
“Clarity”
I love soul – above all for those amazing, sonorous vocals. And there really are a whole lot of them here. In “Clarity” I was very impressed by that lovely piano playing somewhere in the background. And you know what? After listening to this track, I felt that all my expectations for the album “Fairuz” had been fulfilled. And really, there was no need for more songs here – ‘Clarity’ perfectly concluded this beautiful musical story that ProleteR has told us.
I don’t think these songs need any summary at the end of this review – all the songs totally wowed me. I only hope that with the album “Fairuz” this autumn grey will turn into a hopeful, colourful reality for you.
Written & reviewed by LadyDot (Ja, Wizeruk) Date: 2022-11-28
Bio – LadyDot
Anna (LadyDot) was born in ’94, but always felt she came from the Golden Twenties. “Polka” in Polish means “girl from Poland”, so she’s “Polka in polka dots”. She loves vintage style and spontaneous travels around Europe. But her greatest love (apart from her husband) is of course music, especially Electro Swing.
On her own Blog www.jawizeruk.pl she writes about various music genres. She is a copywriter, so writing is her strong point. Anna likes singing (not only in the shower!) and cooking (especially Italian and Hungarian cuisine).