NOIRE by Avenoir | Album Review
a budding R&B name
I don’t know how I heard about Avenoir, probably a TikTok ad oddly enough, but I’m glad I did. In a sultry, dungeon-esque R&B debut EP, the artist paints a likeness to the early styles of The Weeknd and Brent Faiyaz in NOIRE, truly a nod towards broodiness of the noir genre. The brevity of this album does it no favors as it leaves the listener craving more than the mere 20-minute peek NOIRE provides at who the artist is beyond his leading singles, “Shameless,” and “TMW,” both the epitome of modern R&B as it circles back to its grungy roots that The Weeknd popularized with the Trilogy.
Dark, swooning, filth-ridden back-alleys and sex dungeons seem to be coated with the type of music that thumps, creeps, and leaks out of the speakers with Avenoir. Sensuality seems to haunt the artist as he recalls a particular trollop with a lover cursed by deceit, yet he finds her intoxicating in “TRACK 02 (Dangerous Lover).” This tracks exudes the energy of the deep club cuts from The Weeknd’s early era with subtle synths and low, husky delivery, a large part of the reason I love it.
When he tears the house down with the harmonization and chorus of “WHO DO U LUV,” you can’t help but sway and break down with him as he call upon his lover in finality, and, at times, unintelligibly in a blubbering, and still, beautiful delivery, topped off with an awesome guitar solo. These two tracks alone really exemplify who and what Avenoir can be aside from a carbon copy or blend of current R&B stars.
I would’ve loved to see a larger repertoire of production, or even a longer selection of music. The brevity of NOIRE is its weak point as it feels like an anthology of discovery rather than an reconnaissance of sound. A fuller album will likely both ignite and pinpoint who Avenoir is, and I’m excited if this EP is any indication. The vocal ability is clearly there, the influences are clear, the sound is sparsely chased, yet recognizable.
Even after the exciting snippet of the NOIRE EP, I’m still confounded on who Avenoir is as his sound, as enticing as it is, reaps the benefits of already established stars. The image of the artist is as obscure as his name, avenoir, an emotion described as, “the desire that memory could flow backward,” by The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. Perhaps the sound, combined with the subject matter, is only an apt reminder that love is as complex as it always has been.
This is certainly one of those show me, don’t tell me situations that writers are so often chided for. I appreciate the influence and capturing a bit of nostalgia that comes with the sound, but at the end of the day, why should I care? I could just go back and listen to those grimy, early 2010’s hits. Avenoir is just on the cusp of discovering the why, and it’ll be beautiful to see where he goes with it from there.
Favorite Tracks: Dangerous Lover, WHO DO U LUV
Rating: 7.9/10