It seems that in the current global situation the world could do with little more love at the moment, and the French clothing label Kitsuné feel that they are the ones to bring it to us. The album, simply entitled 'Kitsuné Love', features eleven tunes exclusive to this CD. Its aim is to imbue the listener with a sense of love and happiness. Whether is does or not is really up to the listener, but it's not a typical love compilation, full of soppy tearful ballads sung by 16-20 something girls which is really all about, in Chuck D's words, "sex for profit". No, this is a more mature, thoughtful attempt to express love through song.

Featuring artists from Paris to Japan, it's a mixed bag of tunes that apart from Gonzales interpretation of Daft Punk's Too Long (a bland ballad that might appeal to fans but does nothing for me), the bulk of the music falls into the house music genre. Most of it is quite funky, and it would fit neatly on a Chill Out compilation category of music. There's no real stand out tracks, except maybe X by Lacquer, but neither are there any duds.

Not generally being an huge admirer of French House doesn't help in my appreciation of this CD, and I'm really not sure if I like it. I certainly don't hate it, and there's definitely an audience out there for it, but it's nothing overly spectacular. It rolls along, nice and mellow, remaining listenable but without being engaging. It is certainly a better compilation than any other "love songs" rubbish out there, which is good but I don't think it's quite charming enough to be anything more than background music for most people.

Julian Cram

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