Released last November, Redcar les adorables étoiles, the confounding third album by Redcar, AKA Chris, AKA Christine and the Queens, was overshadowed by talk of a less oblique follow-up waiting in the wings. Seven months later and here it is, once again eschewing the radio-friendly art pop of 2014 breakthrough Chaleur humaine, or 2018’s Prince-esque Chris. Instead, the sprawling, Madonna-assisted Paranoïa, Angels, True Love refracts grief – Chris’s mother died in 2019 – through the prism of Tony Kushner’s epic 1991 play, Angels in America, creating an astounding mausoleum of heavy emotions and heavenly longing.
Co-produced by Mike Dean (Beyoncé, Travis Scott), its songs are haunted synth suites prone to orchestral flourishes and choruses that either bubble like hot lava or float like smoke. Even at its most meandering there are moments of awe – the cacophonous final minute of Track 10; the heady, overlapping 80s drum fills on Marvin Descending; To Be Honest’s echo-laden balladry – while its crystalline production rewards repeated listens. But it’s on the simpler moments, when Chris leans more towards human reality than heavenly abstract, as on the gorgeous Flowery Days, that you’re reminded of his innate power to move you.
