Album Review: Total by SebastiAn

Over more than half of the past decade French born SebastiAn has been remixing some of the most interesting contemporary musicians, including Daft Punk, Cut Copy, The Rapture, Bloc Party, Rage Against the Machine and The Who. His tastes are varied and this can be heard in Total, this also makes the album hard to classify with . The 22 tracks flow nicely from one to the next to create a fun and completely danceable album, full of great beats and raw sounds with whiffs of French electro, disco, R&B, rock and even a little metal. At times it sounds like it could be a live performance. This isn’t a surprising fact since the album includes several songs you might already have heard, tracks that SebastiAn’s has perfected throughout his career, albeit tweeked for the album.

It also features appearances by M.I.A. (C.T.F.O., which is probably the weakest link of the album, kind of boring and what’s with all the acronyms?), Justice’s Gaspard Augé (Tetra, a little cleaner and lighter on this album’s spectrum, the intro also makes me think of a video game music), and Mayer Hawthorne (Love In Motion, the first standout track, it’s reminiscent of Prince it will make you smile and dance around in your best purple jumpsuit).

After being in the shadow of other French acts (think Daft Punk, Justice) waiting for his turn to shine, Total cements SebastiAn as one of the scenes most ambitious, hard working and original acts. I wouldn’t label this album as a masterpiece, but it does it is consistent and it makes me look forward to more from him – but hopefully we won’t have to wait as long.

SebastiAn makes a rare North American appearance at the Hoxton on September 8; come and get down.

Teaser:

Total by SebastiAn, released May 30 in Europe/June 7 in North America on Ed Banger Records

Total, SebastiAn’s much anticipated first full studio album created some controversy even before it came out. When the album was announced, it was accompanied with an X-rated teaser trailer. Then there was the cover; photographed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, who’s been around for 30 years photographing some of your favourite album covers and directing some of your favourite videos, it depicts SebastiAn making out with himself. He justifies this by explaining that it represents the relationship that an artist has with his ego, and if anyone can be forgiven for their ego – it’s SebastiAn.

Teaser:

Total by SebastiAn, released May 30 in Europe/June 7 in North America on Ed Banger Records

Teaser:

Total by SebastiAn, released May 30 in Europe/June 7 in North America on Ed Banger Records

Sean Chin

Chief Editor & Founder of Live in Limbo. Host & Producer of the Capsule Podcast. Sean is an award-winning photographer and Nikon Professional Services member. His work has appeared on the CBC, Pitchfork, and MUCH. He is an Academy Delegate at the JUNOs (CARAS) and has been involved in the Toronto music scene since 2005. He is also an endurance and CrossFit athlete. You should follow him on Twitter @SeanChin.