Solide mirage

François Marry’s fifth album refines his band’s combination of African-influenced guitar, French tradition, and tender-hearted indie-rock. “Grand Rérèglement” channels thrumming Malian guitar and “Apocalypse à Ipsos” bounces on sweet Ghanian highlife, while “Jamais Deux Pareils” and “Bête Morcelée” mine darker, western rock modes. Even if you don’t understand Marry’s French lyrics, it’s evident he’s a dreamer: wiry and yearning on “1982,” and swooning in the classic *chanson* mode on the sweet “Perpétuel Été.”

A firm step on the way to cementing a solid, humanist vision.

There’s a romance to Mirage that requires no translation, and not just because of the admittedly smoky accented purr of Fránçois Marry.