A concept album based on the love affair of a creature from Greek mythology — sounds like a descent into prog rock hell worse than anything Dante could dream up. Yet while 24 year-old Parisian Robin Couder (aka Rob) had dabbled in Pink Floyd-ish progressive rock on 2001’s Don’t Kill, Satyred Love is an entirely different sort of shiny beast. It’s an art pop song cycle closer in sound to Air, in spirit to Hall & Oates, and feel to Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds. Like the fabled Satyrs that played flutes for Dionysus, Satyred Love is full of Satyr-like lasciviousness and riot. However, unlike the Satyrs, who are beyond the cares and sorrows of mortal life, Rob digs deep into doubt, heartbreak and misery.
On “Introducing A Satyred Love,” Rob narrates, his spoken voice sounding uncannily like Serge Gainsbourg. “Godspeed” is a vocoderized prayer asking for protection as the Satyr goes forth into the cold, cruel world of . . . dating, mwa ha haa. Rob sounds like a cross between Depeche Mode and Gary Numan on the synthpop “You & I & My Song.” Things truly take off with the appropriately seductive “King Lover,” featuring an unforgettable chorus that will most likely stick in your brain for the rest of your life — “Rock hard in a dirty place/I’ll make you someone else/’Cause I’m a king and a lover.” Seeds of doubt enter in the pop gem “Never Enough” — “You say I’ll leave you first/Well you’re probably right.” “The Wedding Day” repeats the question, “Shall I know if I love you the wedding day?” in the form of an anguished hymnal, and the most achingly gorgeous 5:15 of symphonic pop so far this century. “Mermaid Deluxe” is a meditation on temptation, it’s ironic innocence and doo-wop choruses evoking Robert Wyatt. “Love Bizarre” is a chilly instrumental as emotionally convincing as anything by Sigur Rós or Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
With a rubbery P-Funk synth riff, “Do You Mind If I Keep On Watching You” pulls off the estimable task of being sexy, creepy and playful all at once — “Do you mind if I keep on watching you, while your legs’ up my shoulder?” The love affair ends with “Unilarme,” and “Angels cry for you and me.” Indeed, the strings and guitar outro of “Godspeed Reprise” does sound like angels weeping. Pan, the most famous Satyr, who also lost his own beloved, Syrinx, once competed with his pipes against Apollo and his lyre in a musical contest. Despite moral support from Midas, Pan lost. Had he Rob’s talent for melody and storytelling, things might have turned out differently.
