Petit Mal - Petit Mal

The debut album by Petit Mal, electropop offshoot of the cult London collective Antifamily, is a unique combination of time-travelling synth pop, leftfield intelligence and ice cold passion. Petit Mal, AKA Ben Seymour and Melanie Gilligan have created a whirlpool of complex emotions, beautifully austere vocals, and compelling electromechanical melodies that burn themselves into the memory.
The Guardian surmised, “Petit Mal have got that arty/accessible duality down pat, the sort that early '80s synth-duos used to have, so that before you even realise it, you're humming and moving along to ideas that are quite highfalutin' and complex.”. The Guardian liked it so much they named Petit Mal Band of the Day. Louis Pattison joined in the chorus of approval, capturing the song's enigmatic quality, “The whole thing is oddly serene in its grave seriousness, like a hedge fund manager noting the eerie silence somewhere between his 31st floor window and the rapidly approaching pavement.” (Guardian Guide). Plan B gave Petit Mal's prophetic commentary on the financial crisis 2 pages of analysis and pronounced, “Like the best bands to come out of the Reaganite era, Petit Mal's songs balance cold, alienated synth sounds and passionate, slightly forlorn singing… They have the strange effect of a non-ironic investigation into older styles that leave the listener truly unable to determine in what year they were recorded.” Crisis in the Credit System is also featured as the theme music to a 4-part fictional film of the same name that Gilligan has scripted and directed, released online in September 2008 by the production company Artangel. Making the connections between 'Northern Rock' and 'Das Kapital', the film is a witty and brilliant take on our times with an original soundtrack and extra dialogue from Seymour.

1. Possessed 
2. Mt. Dimension
3. Words Follow You 
4. Mirrorball 
5. New Century
6. Crisis II 
7. Ulrich & Agathe
8. Violence in the Borough
9. Crisis in the Credit System
10. Song to Shout in the Ruins

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