Radiant Baby Announce New LP, Share 'Réputation' Video

Today, Radiant Baby announces their upcoming LP, Pantomine, out September 24th on Lisbon Lux. The lead single from the album, "Réputation", is out now. Brooklyn Vegan premiered the track, praising it as "a bouncy, sing-a-long synthpop number with a stylish (and weird) music video."

The album explores the tension between fantasy and reality. The characters in the songs vainly pursue various fantasies: bodily, romantic and musical perfection, broken or impossible dreams, and the frenetic euphoria of party, performance and love.

Radiant Baby wants the album to convey feelings of longing, loss and frustration. Throughout the songs, different characters face the limits of reality in the midst of impossible fantasies. They attempt to quench their thirst for intense sensations, vacillating between hope and disillusion. The aesthetic of the album reflects opposing feelings and therefore combines two contrasting musical atmospheres: a raw, punk, glam rock, rough, dramatic and melancholic atmosphere versus a romantic, light, dreamy and gentle atmosphere.

In Réputation, the protagonist mocks others' gaze and criticisms, responding in a casual, provocative and sarcastic way to comments made about him.

This Dream evokes an intense state of euphoria. The night seems perfect. Wishing to never face reality, the protagonist prays for this moment to be the last.

In Somber Summer, the protagonist recalls her lost love story. She clings to the past, realizing that she cannot escape her grief, her lover having already left. The dark summer illustrates her impossible longings: a desire to go back and relive the intoxication of an already extinguished love.

Comique contrasts lightness and melancholy. In the song, the protagonist seeks comfort through his dark humour. He laughs at everything that seems important to him. In the bridge, we hear a soothing voice, who sees the protagonist's pointless attempts to hide behind his laughter. She offers him a moment of respite from his loneliness.

Aquagym evokes the pursuit of perfection and conformity via a story about bodily obsessions.

On The Run illustrates a fantasy to escape the monotony of routine.

Smooth is the song on the album that most naively addresses the theme of fantasy. The lyrics describe a moment of love at first sight. The protagonist is in perfect harmony with her feeling of love. She sings lightly and enjoys her happiness.

In Inconnue, the protagonist lets himself be soothed by a reverie that is both sweet and melancholic. He dreams of a perfect and improbable love. The image of the star illustrates dreams that are impossible and unfulfilled, as well as the inevitable reality of death and loneliness.

In Lights Out, the protagonist sings about his frustration and disillusionment, realizing that his excesses are catching up with him and wearing him out. The hope of feeling fully alive gives way to the limits of his tired body and mind.

Diaporama features the story of a model, admired by photographers and the public. To others, she seems ideal, but her intimate experience betrays the perfection she performs. She is sad and enraged. A hitherto secret rebellion is crying out within her. The "diaporama" evokes the dispossession experienced by the protagonist and the nostalgia for the lost years: her life passes before her in pictures, as she wishes to brave her helplessness and assert her identity.

Listen here:

Photo Credit: Ariana Molly

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