In 2019, Arthur Ashin took to Twitter to explain why it had been four years since his most recent album as Autre Ne Veut. Era of Transparency. His grandmother had died. He had made changes in his life. got a dog But new work was on the way, he said: “There's still mixing and mastering to be done, but production and performance are just in the final stages of adjustments.”
Five years later thatand said file, Love, guess who?? is finally here, finally completing the trilogy that began with 2013 Worry and followed in 2015 Era of Transparency. Although the set spans over a decade, the tone of the work has remained remarkably consistent. Like its predecessors, Love, guess who?? bridges dramatic, R&B-inspired vocal performances with lo-fi top 40 radio instrumentals, then folds in the experimental electronic sounds popularized by PC Music and Hippos in Tanks in the early 2010s. well tapping Oneohtrix Point Never's production on the Weeknd's Dawn FMbut replacing 80s schlock with bedroom pop as a cornerstone. The decade may have changed since Autre Ne Veut's last album, but he remained in dialogue with the same influences.
Another constant that weaves through the trilogy is a series called “World War”. Each new LP features an updated iteration of the track, highlighting continuity from album to album. Life changes, couples break up, the world slides closer to inevitable and constant destruction. The “World War” remains. The streak from the first 'World War' to the silky smooth third iteration continues Love, guess who?? serves as a handy example of how Autre Ne Veut has evolved over the last decade – and the ways in which its core interests have remained the same.
The song's title suggests less a violent global conflict than a feeling. Over electronic drums similar to those Joel Ford programmed for Ashin in 2013, Autre sings of a loss as complex as it is tragic. “So you really don't care,” he asks over a patch of synth that sounds like a fogey searching for clarity. “Words are just things I'm trying to say,” he adds, wrestling with heady ideas—like the very nature of communication—masked as experimental R&B.
