Marc Leclair

Marc Leclair is better known as Akufen and because of his critically acclaimed full-length debut, My Way, he’s also better known as one of the forerunners of micro-house. Under his own name though, he’s finding room to explore other sounds and Musique Pour 3 Femmes Enceintes sounds like Leclair has left the Berlin nightclub that first inspired him and set up shop in the parking lot out back. Remnants of his neck-snapping sample usage and hook-filled beats still persist, but only deep in the backdrop and at each end of the album. Otherwise, Leclair’s focus here is the murky, claustrophobic world of atmosphere-tells-all ambience. Translating into "Music for Three Pregnant Women,” this album is divided into nine movements, each entitled for a day in the pregnancy cycle. "1er Jour”, the day of conception, pairs him against Berlin audio/visual duo Rechenzentrum, resulting in a dubby track reminiscent of the clicks‘n’cuts movement from the turn of the century. Leclair is most intriguing when he drops the beats altogether, which is what happens on the album’s next three tracks. Here, what shines through the embalming shroud of dark texture is a jazz musician’s notion of off-kilter time signatures. From thereon in, the mood slowly ascends toward the final track, a euphoric 4/4 gallop to birth and delivery. Like My Way, Musique is driven by its underlying concept. Leclair’s ability to move seamlessly into different terrain is a sign that he’s not about to get bogged down by the burden of his debut’s success, which is all the more reason to see where he goes next.