For Jean-Michel Jarre, of course, it’s always been the year 2000. Even when he first emerged, back in ’77, with that Pacman anthem ‘Oxygene’, his vision of a future where moon boots were [I]de rigeur[/I] was already fully formed.
So it’s fitting that, as London recovers from celebrating New Year’s Eve in a wonderfully Jarre-esque fashion – the city lit by lasers and expensive fireworks – the man himself should release another album of sublime synth washes, reinforcing the fact that it’s Jean Michel’s millennium and we just live in it.
While the paltry likes of Orbital and Underworld have set down a sonic blueprint for a sci-fi landscape that’s been heralded as innovative and prophetic, we know full well from [I]Blade Runner[/I] just how this new century should be soundtracked. Jarre and his Casio cohort Vangelis have heard the music of the off-world colonies, and it sounds a bit likeAir, only cheesier.
Not content with uncovering such aural mysteries, ‘Metamorphoses’ also offers us a glimpse of forthcoming technologies, sampling something called a ‘mobile phone’ on ‘Tout Est Bleu’. ‘Je Me Souviens’, meanwhile, showcases the talents of a certain Miss Laurie Anderson, who on this evidence is sure to give Geri Halliwell a run for her money come 2005.
Fascinating stuff.