Paris-based duo Entrée Libre formed back in 2019 and derives its name from the first letters of the childhood friends’ first names. The pair quickly developed a joyful, spontaneous and hook-driven pop sound, which for the duo — and in turn, their listeners — has served as an escape from our ongoing strange and uncertain moment.
The French duo’s debut EP, last year’s Avant-Premiére featured three singles I managed to write about on this site:
- “Aller Simple,” a dance floor friendly track that’s one-part 80s New Order, one- part JOVM mainstays DBFC, one-part Daft Punk
- “Corps à corps,” a hook-driven, LCD Soundsystem-like bop that’s perhaps even more danceable than its immediate predecessor.
- “Pixel” is a breezy yet wistful bop centered around glistening synth arpeggios, a chugging motorik groove, skittering beats paired with plaintive harmonies that brought Trans Europe Express-era Kraftwerk and La Femme to mind
The duo’s sophomore EP Mémoire de formes is slated for release this year. The EP’s first single “Je voudrais que tout brûle” is a swaggering and decidedly krautrock inspired song built around a relentless motorik groove, shimmering synth arpeggios and angular bursts of guitar paired with the duo’s unerring knack for catchy hooks. While sonically bringing DBFC to mind, “Je voudrais que tout brûlée” as the duo explains “deals with the wild and absurd quest for success, and the desire to be heard.”
Directed by Leïla Macaire, the accompanying video features the duo dreaming — and then realizing some of their wildest dreams of fame and attention to delirious and hilarious effect.
