Eiffel - Stupor Machine

I was afraid it’d be the album I’d lose them, after having loved them so much, from "Tu Vois Loin" to "Place de Mon Cœur", by way of "Saoul" and – top – "À Tout Moment la Rue". Why?
Because 7 years passed by between this Stupor Machine and the previous album. During these 7 years Romain Humeau, the band’s mastermind, convinced me less with his solo Mousquetaires  than with his putting Friday, or, The Other Island to music or his collaboration with Bernard Lavilliers.
Because many of artists, that I counted on, disappointed me lately (or have I become more demanding?)
And especially because I had mixed feelings at the first listening of this patchwork. I felt good tracks like the 'singles' "Cascade" and "Chasse Spleen" but it goes off at jumble tangents too, as well in music as in what-the-fuck lyrics!
After a few more listens, already better. Say some tracks please me (maybe half of them) and I could frankly let down the others. The lyrics of "Oui" – sequel of  "À Tout Moment la Rue" (musically too) – is absolutely ginormous!

Romain mutates into an occasional crooner, going down to bass lines ("Gravelines" as named, but "N'Aie Rien à Craindre" or "Terminus" too)
On the other hand he really should stop singing in English; it doesn’t suit him at all.

What about the lyrics? If you have the feeling you understand nothing (even if you’re fluent in French), good news: you’re quite normal. For you’d have to be a savant submerged into Romain’s zany brain to twig everything. So all you need to do is like me: hold on, read the words in cold, feel things, pick up a few snippets and do at least a couple of searches. Then you’ll glimpse a delirious textual wealth. References, finds, puns, portmanteau words... I leave you the pleasure to find them.
The themes? politics, environment, society, Internet, religion, love, sex...

As for the music, the buried urge to pogo shows up pronto ("Pécheur Pécheur", "Big Data", "Manchurian Candidate", "Miragine"). Big sound and a cascade of saturated guitars do the job, and do it well. In short, the guys from Bordeaux have just written a new chapter in the French rock history. In the end, all is well with this album I haven’t lost them.