The single, co-written with Damon Albarn, heralds the producer and singer’s new album, A Tenuous Tale of Her, due for release on June 4.
Poté, whose real name is Sylvern Mathurin, is an English artist from Saint Lucia, an island state in the West Indies. With a background in club and electronic scenes, the producer and singer has been moving into more mainstream territory, as evidenced by his track “Open Up,” performed on the Colors show last February. For his new track “Young Lies,” which announces the release of his first album, A Tenuous Tale of Her, Poté called on the British Damon Albarn, founding member of the bands Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, the Bad and the Queen.
In the video, Poté plunges us into a pre-apocalyptic universe, fully assuming his vulnerability. We follow a man who tries his best to resist a fatal destiny. Despite the anxiety-inducing atmosphere, the funky rhythms bring a whirlwind of both fear and suspense as well as freedom, with a particularly theatrical edge. Poté sings foreboding lyrics on the track: “There’s something in the air … ” The single reflects a new album whose intention is to explore the artist’s own emotions.
Following on from his experiences as a producer, Poté fully assumes his new vocation as a vocalist, as well as his new pop angle: “I think that it is by working with other people, artists who really write songs, and not just producers, that I really sharpened my ear, my sense of melody and writing.” We feel the many musical influences the artist draws on: like kuduro, a musical genre from Angola, developed in Portugal, which consists of mixing break dance, Angolan semba, electronic and traditional African music. As for Damon Albarn, he commented: “I like it when tracks evolve like the one we did together.”
The album A Tenuous Tale of Her will be released on June 4, 2021, via OUTLIER.
Listen to Poté and Damon Albarn in our Songs of the Week playlist on Spotify and Deezer.
