MOULIN NOIR DESCENDING ALBUM BURNING CAR RELEASE: SEPTEMBER, 2000 REVIEW: OCTOBER 20, 2000

Mentioning Moulin Noir in the same breath as Gary Numan and John Foxx comes natural after just a few minutes. Sole member Anders Wikholm builds melodies and lyrics the same way those fellows did at the dawn of electronic pop music, with Moulin Noir being slightly more melodic and accessible.
"I Can't Sleep", the first single taster off "Descending", impressed me, perhaps first and foremost because I didn't like his previous material which held unhealthy portions of pretentiousness. Still, "I Can't Sleep" is a great, more direct bleep-sweepy song with focus on interesting lyrics and a, in the synthpop genre necessary, catchy chorus. And with two very good extra tracks that single really got my hopes up for the upcoming album.
Now when I have listened to "Descending" a number of times, I can establish both strengths and, reluctantly, weaknesses. When Anders composes catchy synthpop songs he's home free, but some of the material here does not fit that description. He complicates things too much, even though I'm guessing that was his intention, not to sound like common synthpop. None of these more "experimental" songs are directly bad, but what Moulin Noir does best is likeable pop songs. "I Can't Sleep", "Spellbound", "Over the Wall" and "On Your Own" are all fine examples of that.

NIKLAS FORSBERG