Les Imprimés – ‘Fading Forward’ album review: Sun-soaked easy listening excellence
‘Easy listening’ has often been used by critics as a means of insulting a record, either for its lack of depth or lack of experimentation. If you actually look back across the history of easy listening records, though, you will find a rich tapestry of sonic experiments and utterly beautiful compositions capable of capturing a mood like no other. It is in that spirit that Morten Martens’ Les Imprimés exist today.
The Skinny: Having already established himself as an expert in the craft of music production, it is no surprise that Martens’ own work is as intricate and detailed as it is captivating. On Fading Forward, the second full-length LP released by the project, following on from an extensive catalogue of seven-inch singles, the producer delves deep into the history of easy listening and library LPs, creating a pulchritudinous soundscape that feels particularly fitting now that the spring and summer months are upon us.
Despite those roots in the realm of easy listening, though, the tracklisting features an unsuspectingly diverse blend of influence. Each groove contained within the record feels intrinsically laced with the sunshine sounds of old-school pop-soul and jazz. For a record that feels so laid-back, Les Imprimés manage to pack it with a wealth of different ideas. It does, after all, build upon the Norwegian producer’s extensive experience of record collecting and sample chasing; Fading Forward almost feels like the perfect soundtrack to a crate-digging session.
As is par for the course with an album of this ilk, Fading Forward is not awash with ‘stand-out moments’. Instead, Les Imprimés flow gracefully through the 12 individual compositions, each of which fits together in a vast overarching narrative, which demands as little or as much attention as the listener so desires. There aren’t many finer choices for ‘background’ music being released at the current moment, but equally, if you actively pay attention to the record, there are a multitude of hidden gems to be uncovered, too.
It seems strange that an album which works so brilliantly as an overarching collection has been proceeded by so many single releases, and that is a point of criticism that is applicable to the vast majority of modern album releases, many of which release half the tracklisting in the weeks prior to the full release, thus taking any major notion of surprise or intrigue out of the full release. In this case, though, it does go to show just how versatile the record is, in terms of working well both in short bursts and as a full-length album experience.
The Verdict: With Fading Forward, Martens delivers the kind of expansive, genre-defying soundscape that has come to be expected of the producer, crafting an intricate, laid-back, sun-drenched sonic odyssey that should be proud to bear the ‘easy listening’ tag.
Standout Track: ‘You and I’
Release Date: April 10th, 2026 | Producer: Morten Martens | Label: Big Crown Records
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