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Rahim Redcar: Hopecore review – former Christine and the Queens artist plays to his fanbase

There are flashes of brilliance in this roughly-hewn album, but also flaws hidden by production flourishes. It’s intriguing but not wholly enjoyable

As fans decried his lack of involvement in the endless water-based procession, the French art-pop practitioner hinted at having been in talks to partake but said he was “weakened and bored by their system” (he would later perform during the closing ceremony of the Paralympics). After releasing the French-language Redcar les Adorables Étoiles in 2022, a hastily-recorded suite of undercooked break-up songs, the idea was to immediately follow it with the three-part “operatic gesture” Paranoia, Angels, True Love. Recalling the indulgence of Paranoia, Angels, True Love, but lacking its emotional heft, it represents Hopecore’s central flaw – a belief that lyrical repetition and so-so melodies can be pasted over with production flourishes.

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