Escapades

When the Justice duo announced that Gaspard Augé—the synth-and-samples half of French electronic music’s most maximalist act—was going solo, the expectation was for more cathedral-sized drama. Escapades, out now on Ed Banger Records and Because Music, delivers something far sunnier: a twelve-track suite of electro, disco-funk and mid-tempo house that trades Justice’s arena bombast for the salt-tinged glow of a Riviera evening.

The scene is set in the 38 seconds of Welcome, a bed of radio interference, seagulls and distant surf that sounds like a transistor radio left on a beach towel. Force majeure then locks in with the record’s central groove: a rubbery, slinking bassline, crisp four-to-the-floor drums and layers of funk guitar that nod hard to the disco era. Rocambole, the lead single, is the sharpest early hook—glittering synth arpeggios, a lolloping bassline and handclaps that snap like a 70s one-off, all wrapped in that unmistakable French-touch swing.

That sun-baked character runs right through the record’s heart. Europa floats on airy pads and a boomy kick, its melody coasting as if in no particular hurry, whilst Pentacle piles on laser-beam synths and stabbing disco strings for the album’s most insistent four-to-the-floor moment. Hey! is the closest the record comes to vintage Justice, its glitchy vocal chops and towering reverb recalling their early maximalism—but even here the mood stays buoyant rather than aggressive.

The later half is where the record reveals its range. Captain struts on a filtered disco groove with a bassline so loose it practically skips, whilst Lacrimosa dials things right back—its mournful strings and treated piano the most affecting moment here. Belladone brings darker, tougher electro, Casablanca flirts with nocturnal funk, and Vox turns a chopped gospel choir into an unexpectedly euphoric centrepiece. Closer Rêverie, French for “daydream”, is a fitting comedown: pads swelling gently over a patient beat until the album simply melts away.

In the end, Escapades is exactly what a solo debut from the Justice half should be—a record that carries his studio wizardry and love of maximal detail, but filtered through a much more personal, relaxed lens. The hooks creep up on you, and the arrangements reveal new corners on every play. It won’t flatten a festival crowd the way Justice’s best moments do, but that was never the point. This is a summer record in the truest sense, and a quietly confident statement of independence.