Bernice - Eau de Bonjourno (2021)

An album as delicate yet present as a perfume, Bernice's Eau de Bonjourno makes the most of its relatively swift creative process. Arriving three years after 2018's Polaris Prize-nominated Puff: In the Air Without a Shape (a relatively quick turnaround, considering the seven years that separated that album and the group's debut What Was That) and recorded in ten days, its spontaneous songs highlight the band's sophisticated, inquisitive blend of indie, jazz, and R&B. Leaving traditional song structures in the dust, Bernice revel in unexpected harmonies and chords and syncopated rhythms that give them a dragonfly-like ability to flit wherever they choose. One moment, they're delivering silky R&B with "Infinite Love"; the next, they're polishing the sci-fi optimism of "We Choose You" to a chrome-plated gleam. This shape-shifting ability comes from the band's pedigreed players: Some of Bernice's members also performed on the Weather Station's excellent 2021 album Ignorance, and the interplay of sounds and singer/songwriter Robin Dann's words on Eau de Bonjourno is similarly dazzling. Despite its bubbling intricacy, the album's arc gradually reveals itself. As on Puff: In the Air Without a Shape, Dann and company explore how identity and relationships change from moment to moment. The need to be known and know others makes up the heart of the album, and Bernice illustrate it vividly. As it shifts from heady atmospheres to bright electro-pop, "Empty Cup" is the sound of doubt turning into confidence. On "Groove Elation," fragments of beats and melody bounce off of each other, then join together, skillfully mirroring the growing intimacy of Dann's lyrics. Her connections extend to the world around her, whether she finds kinship with a mother hermit thrush on "Dry Riverbed" or muses on solitude in the beautifully somber "Lone Swan." In turn, the band know exactly how to imbue small things with big meaning: sharing something as humble as a salad takes on cosmic proportions on "Big Mato." Eau de Bonjourno's sense of self includes knowing when to turn away. Dann sings the praises of boundaries on "Personal Bubble" over a taut slap bass that deflects saxophones and keyboards like a shield. One of the album's most striking songs, "Your Beautiful House," captures the forgetfulness of loss in the slippery pedal steel and crumbling beats, echoing the way Dann's memories fall away from her. Though Eau de Bonjourno's musical mindfulness demands active listening, it's well worth paying close attention -- this is experimental music driven by emotion, with frequently exhilarating results.