Oxymore was 2 years old on October 21. The live version will be 3 years old in January. It's interesting to look back at how the album was recieved and where the album is in his career.
When it comes to styles, Oxymore can probably be described as a musique concrete, electroacustic, industrial and ambient influenced experimental techno album. When it comes to sound design, Jarre built the most complex, layered, detailed sound design I’ve ever heard in my entire life to surround you and overwhelm you in a good way.
I can totally see that for some people, it’s maybe too much, but I absolutely enjoy being lost in the overwhelming complexity of this album. I had to play each track again and again to even suspect what comes next, all the surprising little details. Yes, this is not an album that immediately "clicks". You need to spend time with this album, to pay active attention, to invest energy, but the result is satisfying. I think the most special music needs time. Commercial pop is immediately catchy, but you forget it the next day, because you hear something like that every day. An album like Oxymore is hard to digest, but when you finally do, it has a deep impression on you.
But I believe Oxymore was so import for Jarre’s discography for a very specific reason. Jarre has always been a legend, a very popular artist with millions of fans and people who love electronic music generally respect his legacy as a pioneer. At the same time, in the last few decades, especially from fans who like less conventional music, experimental and IDM fans, critics, you could see more and more cynical comment about Jarre.
„Jarre’s innovative times are over”, „Jarre just makes dance music now”, etc.
Seeing the reactions to Oxymore outside of the Jarre fan community was so satisfying. Just read the comments on Discog, people who are generally not huge Jarre fans were stunned by the album, some people called it a Top 3 Jarre album. I love this album but even I wouldn’t go that far. That crowd was surprised to hear a Jarre album being so fresh, so innovative and disregarding any stereotype about Jean-Michel Jarre in media. The critical response was also overwhelmingly positive. I was shocked how many positive reviews Oxymore got in 2022, really. 4/5 by Mojo, 4/5 by Retropop, 10/10 by FAZE (!), also 7/10 by Uncut and Quietus. Not that Jean-Michel Jarre needs anyone’s praise or approval, but it was still nice to see Jarre finally getting the respect he deserves from that kind of „hard to satisfy” crowd too.
In fact, I’ve seen this opinion from some Jarre fans:
"Oxymore was made for a different audience, not the existing fanbase". I can see why some people feel that way, but again, which albums were made for the existing fanbase? Was Zoolook produced for the crowd of Oxygene? Was Waiting for Cousteau made for Magnetic Fields fans?
