Live concert photography of L'Impératrice with Daye at Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier this month.

Photography: L’Impératrice with Daye at Music Hall of Williamsburg 4/10/24

Acclaimed Paris-based electro pop sextet and JOVM mainstays L’Impératrice will be releasing their highly-anticipated, self-produced third full-length album Pulsar through microqlima records on June 7, 2024. Pulsar is an album, where the band — founder Charles de Boisseguin (keys), Hagni Gown (keys), David Gaugué (bass), Achille Trocellier (guitar), Tom Daveau (drums) and Flore Benguigui (vocals) — made every decision while capturing the band’s spirit both onstage and off.

The album reportedly sees the Parisian JOVM mainstays move freely and authoritatively among the sounds they love, bridging hip-hop, kosmiche and modern pop with their most unabashed embraces of French Touch and international house of their growing catalog. It’s also the first album of their growing catalog to feature guest vocalists, including acclaimed folk/pop artist Maggie Rogers and rapper/producer Erick the Architect among a list of others.

Pulsar‘s material is built around the Parisian pop outfit’s new creative approach: They split into two teams of ever-interchanging members to explore new ideas, led by the band’s founder Charles de Boisseguin. It was a way of incorporating every voice into the songwriting process like never before, pulling from idiosyncratic upbringings and enthusiasm. They then passed tracks to lead vocalist Flore Benguigui, a longtime jazz singer, who would sometimes write two-dozen vocal melodies for a song, just to see which one fit best. It was an arduous and exciting process that saw the band go from writing through recording in about nine months. For L’Imperatice, this was the sort of self-determination they’d longed for and now found.

Throughout the album’s material, the band’s Benguigui boldly sings of self-empowerment, shirking beauty standards, ageism and drag normalcy throughout the album’s material. These are apt messages for incandescent anthems of experience, of fully being yourself, instead of anyone else’s version of it.

The album will feature:

“Me Da Igual,” a sleek and elegant, hook-driven Giorgio Moroder-era-disco-meets-French touch tune anchored by a strutting bass line, a squiggling Nile Rodgers-like funk guitar line and glistening synths serving as a sinewy and silky bed for Flore Benguigui’s sultry and ethereal delivery. Further cementing the French outfit’s reputation for crafting infectious, sensual, dance floor friendly bops, “Me Da Igual” features lyrics sung in Spanish and French while being a call to free ourselves from the injunctions to please at all costs, to reclaim your body by abandoning yourself to the euphoria of strobe lights and the dance floor — and listening to the sensations that movement and sound provides you.
“Danza Marilú” a sleek, hook-driven Giorgio Moroder-era-Italo-disco-meets-French touch bop featuring Italian vocalist Fabiana Martone that seemingly continues where its immediate predecessor left off. Anchored around glistening synth arpeggios, squiggling funk guitar, a supple and sinuous bass line and thumping beats, the song was inspired by and written as a rebuttal to Serge Gainsbourg‘s “L’Homme á tête de chou,” and is a defiant, feminist anthem for women of all ages, encouraging them to get on that dance floor, take up space, and to be themselves — despite the looks that may ensue by insecure haters.

The acclaimed French JOVM mainstays are finishing up the first leg of a short international tour that they dubbed Double Trouble, which saw them playing two consecutive nights in a handful of the world’s capitals, as well as an appearance at this year’s Coachella.

Last week, I caught L’Impératrice play a career-spanning set of dance floor bangers at Music Hall of Williamsburg that included material off their excellent Tako Tsubo, “Danza Marilu” “Me Da Igual” and some unreleased material, including a sleek, French touch-meets-house banger with an infectious groove that they specifically wrote for live shows. Adding to the party vibe was the fact that the Music Hall crowd was comprised of rabid fans, who were thrilled to hear the favorites and the new material.

After playing Coachella’s second week, the JOVM mainstay outfit will return to the road for a lengthy international tour that will include a sold-out September 6, 2024 stop at Philadelphia‘s Union Transfer, and September 7, 2024 stop at Terminal 5. The second show at Terminal 5, September 8, 2024, was added due to popular demand. The rest of the tour dates are below.

Tour Dates

Apr 23 – Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Tickets

Sep 5 The Anthem – Washington, DC

Sep 6 Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA *SOLD OUT

Sep 7 Terminal 5 – New York, NY *SOLD OUT

Sep 8 Terminal 5 – New York, NY *SECOND SHOW ADDED

Sep 10 MTELUS – Montreal, QC

Sep 13 Rebel – Toronto, ON

Sept 14 The Salt Shed – Chicago, IL

Sep 16 The Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO *SOLD OUT

Sep 17 The Depot – Salt Lake City, UT

Sep 20 Malkin Bowl – Vancouver, BC