Though Nicolas Fromageau would surely prefer that the debut EP by Team Ghost stand on its own merit, it's hard to talk about the project without mentioning M83. An original member of the latter alongside Anthony Gonzalez, Fromageau left M83 after the creation of what is arguably their best release, 2003's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts. Not to diminish the charming, vibrant, John Hughes-inspired poignancy of Saturdays=Youth, but Gonzalez has taken M83 in a much brighter direction without his former partner, embracing pop buoyancy and accessible, sentimental melodies. It is, therefore, up to Fromageau (backed by multi-instrumentalist Christophe Guérin and producer/manager Jean-Philippe Talaga) to pick up the gothier, dream-pop mantle of his former project.
You Never Did Anything Wrong to Me plays like a less volatile sequel to Dead Cities. All the things that make that album great are present here-- waves of synths, sunburst crescendos, harsh shoegaze drones, and tickly electronic effects-- but it also features a newfound emphasis on song structure and prominent rhythms that occasionally border on motorik. But the EP, despite its brief run-time, is ambitious in its scope, spanning the outer-reaches of Fromageau's wall-of-sound and making forays into everything from chilly synth-pop to bruised, echo-laden post-punk. Standout "A Glorious Time" crashes like a Ride track, but, despite its celebratory build and suffusion of fuzzy guitars, it is rooted in bittersweet nostalgia, as its yearning "leave it all behind you" refrain stresses. And "Sur Nous Les Étincelles Du Soleil" (translation: "On Us, the Sparks of the Sun") sustains a mood with its atmospheric girlish whispers delivered in French and washes of reverberating synths.
The EP makes a strong argument for its form, offering seven essential songs (there are only six on the vinyl version) with no filler. In an iTunes era that has ushered in a renaissance for the singles format, You Never Did Anything Wrong to Me is an argument that sometimes a band should forsake the pressures of writing 10-plus great songs for a padded full-length debut and concentrate more on making a vital, necessary-sounding EP that best illustrates its capabilities. Which is exactly what Team Ghost have done here, marking a triumphant (yet wistfully subdued) return for its creator.
