Hyperion

Gesaffelstein came to fame with a darkly glamorous spin on techno: the suave international man of mystery to Daft Punk’s chrome disco-bots. Six years after the French producer brought EBM to Kanye’s “Black Skinhead”, he returns with an even broader sound than the one he displayed on his 2013 debut album, <i>Aleph</i>. No stranger to pop royalty, he corrals The Weeknd for “Lost in the Fire”, a velvety expanse of darkwave R&B, and he recruits Pharrell for “Blast Off”, a throwback electro-funk epic that’s just begging for soundtrack placement. Even HAIM turn up, on “So Bad”, bringing a ray of California sunshine to Gesaffelstein’s cavernous, claustrophobic sound. What might impress the most is the purism of his strictly electronic fugues: “Hyperion” is pure flickering analogue dread, “Reset” offers a gothic twist on trip-hop, and “Humanity Gone” closes the album with nearly 11 minutes of funereal dirge, channelling ’70s synth prog through the austerity of 21st-century minimalism at its most stylish.