Clémentine March - Powder Keg (2026)

Tracklist

01. After the Solstice
02. Lixo Sentimental
03. Upheaval
04. Fireworks
05. Les Années
06. Powder Keg
07. You Are Everywhere
08. Symptomatique
09. Honestly
10. Lucie
11. Le Temps Qu'il Faut Bien
12. The Power of Your Dreams

Like a musical magpie, Clémentine March takes little bits from various cultures and genres and weaves them into something new that bears her unique imprint. A French native who lived for a while in Brazil and is now based in London, March is influenced by her own globetrotting history as well as other Western inspirations. Lixo Sentimental puts a Brazilian spin on chamber pop, with March singing in Portuguese and adding jazzy arrangements—a sensual horn solo, loose-limbed bass—that reference the works of Astrud Gilberto as well as the French electro-samba legend Isabelle Antena. The slightly woozy end result, with its off-kilter melody, feels like a party just tipping over into happy intoxication. Upheaval borrows from motorik as well as decidedly American '90s indie rock and takes the mood even further, living up to its title with an aggressive, feral energy and ending with a gleeful sneer. Fireworks equally matches its name: Burning bright and fast, it's pure joy. Disco infused with nimble tenor sax and banjo (!), it features March duetting with Portland, Oregon, performance artist Evelyn Gray's throaty warble. After the Solstice is lush folk—rich with heavenly sighs, romantic strings, minor-key romance—and welcomes a variety of guest singers, including Naima Bock. Ambling without a care in the world, Powder Keg, March has said, draws its progressive structure from Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingness' First Finale and Paul and Linda McCartney's RAM. (The name, meanwhile, was lifted from the chorus of Bonnie Tyler's Eclipse of the Heart.) Starting like a cracked-mirror version of what John Lennon used to dismissively call McCartney's granny music—a little Tin Pan Alley, a little music-hall theatricality—it then takes a left turn about halfway through and accelerates. Les Années broods like a descendent of Nico's Chelsea Girl, downbeat and lovely and slightly spooky. Quick-footed Symptomatique combines a New Wave beat with a slippery, chic bass line; Lucie puts a retro yé-yé sheen on electro pop, its rave synth like a heckling chuckle. And closer The Power of Your Dreams showcases harmonies from Amy Maskell and Sophie Lowe of the British artsy R&B duo It Was All a Dream, while urbane sax and flute spin the song into cultish fervency.

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