Tonio MC is an award-winning Paris-based emcee, who has released two albums, 2017’s Déstresse and 2019’s Bons Vivant, Vol. 1. His highly-anticipated third album Drôle D’Oiseau is slated for a 2022 release.
The album’s third and latest single, the Louis Angeles and Aurilen Falconnet co-produced “A L’Envers” finds the award-winning French emcee reflecting on mad world, gone even madder. Written during pandemic-related lockdowns, there’s a sense of the song’s narrator feeling confined and constrained by forces larger than him that he can’t see, control, or understand.
Tonio MC’s dense yet melodic flow is paired with a spectral, jazz-inspired production featuring brooding horns, a looping acoustic guitar sample and skittering, boom bap. The overall effect is a brooding song clearly inspired by its time that somehow evokes longing for when things felt and seemed somehow easier and carefree.
The recently released video was shot in Paris’ 13th Arrondissement. We follow the award-winning French emcee as he walks desolate streets that would be bustling pre-pandemic. The video is intended as a love note as a love note to a section of his hometown that seems to have disappeared and been forgotten — but its spirit and character still remains.
Deriving their name from a French expression that gently mocks sappy lovers, the Paris-based indie rock duo Fleur bleu.e — Delphine and Vladimir — features two accomplished musicians, who have been performing and writing music since they were both children: Vladimir was a guitarist in French garage rock band Brats, an act that recorded and released a Yarol Popouard-produced album that was supported with touring across France with BB Brunes. Delphine began playing cello in classical orchestras before learning guitar and playing at alternative festivals across Paris with her first band Le Studio Jaune.
When the duo met in 2019, they bonded over a mutual love of The Smiths, Beach House, Françoise Hardy and Elli et Jacno among others, and a desire to craft music that was emotionally ambiguous while being fueled by their teenage myths. Seemingly influenced by dramas and nightmares, their artistic vision is to go beyond the prism of the gender binary and call upon the listener to express their fragility, celebrating one’s inner world and the beauty in imperfections.
The Parisian duo released “Horizon” to critical applause late last year. Building upon a buzz worthy profile in their native France, the Parisian duo released “STOLT 89” earlier this year, a track that brought Bloom-era Beach House to mind while being an emotionally ambiguous feminist manifesto. Both of those singles will appear on the duo’s Ben Ettter-produced full-length debut slated for release next year.
In the meantime, the forthcoming album’s third and latest single “sun” sees the members of Fluer bleu.e crafting an infectious yet beautiful song that adds elements of folk and jangle pop to their singular take on dream pop. The end result is a song that sounds like Beach House meets The Sundays. But underneath the song’s sunny instrumentation, the song is a bittersweet meditation on depression, the search for a soulmate embodied by the sun and the stifling nature of the gender binary.
Directed by Clémentine Chapron and shot on Super 8 during golden hours, the recently released video for “sun” evokes the heartbreak, loneliness and depression at the heart of the song. Throughout the video, there are subtle reminders that the sun is never far away — whether brooding in a small apartment or out on the streets.
Clintiss is Rennes, France-born, Montreal-based composer, pianist and singer/songwriter. He relocated to Montreal in 2012, where he started his career in earnest with stints in Charlie Dahl and the Royal Big Band and MoooN — and in both acts, the French-born, Canadian-based artist was the primary songwriting and frontperson.
Since then Clintiss has spent hundreds of hours at the piano, seeking the musical language that could reconcile and synthesize his classical training and his love of contemporary, popular music — i.e., indie rock, post rock and neoclassical, among others. “For me,” Clintiss explains, “composing a piano solo piece is the fruit of a long journey and a lot of hard work… My personal challenge was to create a piano language that I couldn’t manage to find or hear anywhere else, a fusion between the demanding classical technique and the different musical repertoires that have influenced me over the years – classical, symphonic, pop, electronic music… I hope to have succeeded in developing something unique, sometimes a little peculiar, straddling several worlds.”
The French-born, Canadian-based artist’s full-length debut Toreador was released last month. And interestingly, the 13 song album is informed by Clintiss’ own experiences straddling different cultures: The Rennes-born, Montreal-based pianist has spent about two-thirds of his life in Europe and about one-third of his life in Canada. Written and recorded over the course of the past two years, the album’s material evokes life over the past two years — a seemingly carefree and happier before, and the isolation and uncertainty of pandemic-related quarantines and lockdowns. But each composition also manages an opportunity to escape for a little bit, at least.
The French pianist, recently did a live session at Paris‘ Studio Flagrant, where he performed material off his full-length debut, including the breathtakingly beautiful album title track “Toreador.” Centered around playing that’s simultaneously delicate yet forceful, “Toreador” is a twisting and turning composition that evokes — for me, at least — brisk winter afternoons wandering in the snow until the sun sets, and looking forward to warming your cold bones.
Brooklyn-based psych pop/dance pop act Psymon Spine — Noah Prebish, Sabine Holler, Brother Michael Rudinski, and Peter Spears — can trace its origins back to when its founding duo of Noah Prebish and Peter Spears met while attending college. Bonding over mutual influences and common artistic aims, Psymon Spine’s founding duo toured the European Union with Prebish’s electronic project Karate. And as the story goes, while in Paris, Spears and Prebish wrote their first song together. By the time, they arrived in London, they were offered a record deal.
When Psymon Spine’s founding duo returned to the States, Spears recruited Micheal “Brother Micheal” Rudinski and their Karate bandmates Devon Kilbern, Nathaniel Coffey to join their new project. And with that lineup, they fleshed out out the demos, which wold eventually comprise their full-length debut, 2017’s You Are Coming to My Birthday. The band went out to support the effort with immersive art and dance parties like their Secret Friend party series across Brooklyn and through relentless touring.
Prebish was also splitting his time with rising Brooklyn-based dream pop act Barrie and around the same time, Barrie began to receive attention across the blogosphere and elsewhere as a result of a handful of buzz-worthy singles, and 2019’s full-length debut, Happy to Be Here. Interestingly while with Barrie, Prebish met his future Psymon Spine bandmate, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Sabine Holler.
The rising Brooklyn-based outfit’s sophomore album, Charismatic Megafauna was released earlier this year through Northern Spy to critical applause from the likes of Paste Magazine,FLOOD, Brooklyn Vegan, Under the Radar and NME. The album and its material was added to a number of playlists including NPR Music, Spotify‘s New Music Friday, All New Indie, Undercurrents and Fresh Finds, Apple Music‘s Midnight City and Today’s Indie Rock and TIDAL‘s Rising. And the album received airplay internationally from BBC, KEXP and KCRW among others. The album explores the complicated feelings and catharsis involved in the dissolution of human relationships through hook-driven, left-of center electronic dance meets psych pop.
In the lead up to Charismatic Megafauna‘s release, I managed to write about three of the album’s released singles:
“Modmed,” an Andrew VanWyngarden-produced and cowritten, strutting disco-tinged track that’s captures the ambivalent and confusing mixture of frustration, doubt and relief of a relationship that had long petered out and finally wound down to its inevitable conclusion. Interestingly, the song is inspired and informed by personal experience: Prebish and Holler’s difficult decision to leave Barrie to focus on Pysmon Spine full-time.
“Confusion,” a hazy and lysergic banger centered around shimmering synth arpeggios, a wobbling bass line and looping guitar solo paired with Prebish’s plaintive vocals and a trippy, spoken word-delivered break that sonically reminded me of Tame Impala‘s Currents.
Psymon Spine caps off a big 2021 with the digital 7 inch release, “Mr. Metronome”/”Drums Valentino.” “‘Mr. Metronome’ and ‘Drums Valentino’ were among the first song ideas we came up with when first starting our sophomore record” says founding member Noah Prebish. “We wrote them near the end of a two year hiatus which was spent pursuing various other projects by the individuals in the band. Following the break, we were all feeling hungry to make a new Psymon Spine record and we quickly began exploring the new sounds that would ultimately define the album. This process left us with two tracks which were a bit too crazy for Charismatic Megafauna, but too good not to finish.”
“Mr. Metronome” may arguably be the most straightforward, club friendly track of the band’s growing catalog. Featuring a German vocal hook sung by Sabine Holler, which translates to “I saw your message, I have to go work,” followed by a repeated refrain of “my schedule, my schedule,” “Mr. Metronome” is centered around tweeter and woofer rocking beats, glistening synth arpeggios and a relentless, motorik groove. Inspired by Kraftwerk, Soulwax and others, the song’s lyrics features musings on dating and social dynamics while reflecting the band’s restlessness and desire to quit all unfulfilling obligations to focus on what really matters to them — music.
“Drums Valentino” is a New Wave-like single featuring industrial clang and clatter, shimmering guitars, glistening synths and an off-kilter yet dance floor-friendly groove. Sonically, the song helps to emphasize the song’s lyrics, which talk about feeling uneasy and uncertain with a psychological precision.
Over the past 18 months or so, I’ve managed to spill quite a bit of virtual ink covering Israeli-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay MAGON. With the release of Out in the Dark, the Israeli-born, Paris-based artist quickly established a sound that at the time, he dubbed as “urban rock on psychedelics.”
Late last year, the Israeli-French artist released his critically applauded sophomore album Hour After Hour, which featured “Change,” a dreamy meditation on the passing of time, “Aerodynamic,” a decidedly glam rock-inspired take on psych rock and the No Wave meets post-punk like album title track “Hour After Hour.” Sonically, the album’s material was a decided change in direction with the material being ” “somewhere between Ty Segall, Allah-Las and The Velvet Underground” according to the JOVM mainstay.
The Israeli-French artist’s third album In The Blue officially dropped today and the album sees MAGON drawing from two different sets of influences — 70s rock like Lou Reed and Led Zeppelin and contemporary influences like Mac DeMarco and Devendra Banhart. Written around the birth of the artist’s daughter, the album is centered around what may arguably be some of the most introspective songwriting of his growing catalog — paired with a bit more assertive delivery.
In the lead-up to In The Blue‘s release, I wrote about two of the album’s singles:
“The Willow,” an introspective bit of 70s-inspired art rock, that follows its characters on a trip to Egypt, where its primary narrator sees the titular willow. But interestingly, the trip serves as a larger and deeper metaphor for its characters, who are all desperately trying to find something — perhaps themselves or a deeper, hidden truth?
“Egyptian Music,” a slow-burning vibey ballad of sorts, centered around shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars paired with impressionistic yet introspective songwriting — with the song equally evoking nostalgia and regret.
“Forever,” In The Blue‘s third and latest single, is a vibey-mid tempo song that’s one part AM rock, one part-post punk centered around impressionistic lyrics touching upon regret, forgiveness, time and its inevitable passing, and love. But interestingly, the song’s narrator — to me, at least — seems a bit worn out and exhausted by — well, everything.
Carole Cettolin is a Paris-born and-based singer/songwriter, whose career started in earnest with the her acclaimed, solo recording project Et Maxence. And with Et Maxence, Cettolin won the 2010 Crédit Mutuel Young Talent Revelation Award in the French song category. Cettolin also caught the attention of Edith Fambuena, who produced material off Cettolin’s Et Maxence debut EP. And with a growing profile, Cettolin eventually opened for La Grande Sophie and Sia.
A meeting with Nicklaus Rohrback allowed the Paris-born and-based singer/songwriter to pursue a new, synth-based sound — under her own name. The end result is Cettolin’s debut under her own name, the five-song EP Un Garçon. Thematically, the EP touches upon reconnecting with one’s inner child, haunting images and stubborn ghosts.
In the lead-up to the EP’s release, I wrote about, the breezy pop number “Tant que le temps est radieux.” Centered around glinting synth arpeggios, shimmering strings, thumping beats and Cettolin’s yearning vocals, the song is a bit hedonistic while reminding the listener to cherish every moment of life –and those, who are dear to us. But underneath the breeziness is a melancholy awareness that nothing is guaranteed.
The EP’s latest single “Vaille que Vaille” is a swooning bit of synth pop centered around glistening synth arpeggios, skittering beats and Cettolin’s achingly plaintive vocals. At its core, the song’s narrator expresss something very rare — a contented sigh of someone who has finally found that deep, meaningful, real love. Lucky and rare are those who find it.
The recently released video for “Vaille que Vaille” is comprised from 30s and 40s movies now in the public domain and was edited to tell queer love stories that we wouldn’t have seen at the time.
Bastien Picot is a rising Réunion Island-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter, producer and creative mastermind behind AURUS, a rising electronic music project that specializes in an orchestral-leaning take on electro pop that has drawn comparisons to Nakhane, Woodkid, Peter Gabriel and others.
With the release of 2019’s “The Abettors,” which featured Sandra Nkaké, Picot exploded into the French scene: The track thematically raised awareness of a system that exploited and took the living for granted. He started off last year with sets at MaMA Festival and Bars en Trans Festival, opening for Vendredi sur Mer at L’Olympia, and being named a “revelation” of Chantier des Francos.
Building upon that momentum, the rising French artist released his self-titled debut EP last June. Since the release of the EP, Picot has been busy: he recently released his highly-anticipated full-length debut Chimera, which feature the brooding and cinematic, Security-era Peter Gabriel-like “Momentum,” and the yearning, Amnesiac-era Radiohead meets contemporary alt pop-like “AWOL.” Conceived, written and recorded between Reunion Island and Paris, the album is an intuitive and tribal journey, in which what may seem irreconcilable meets and merges: Sonically, the songs mesh brooding atmospherics, tribal bets, military rhythms, and elements of trance, pop ballads and more with lyrics sung in English and Reunion Island Creole.
Chimera‘s latest single “Horus” is a mesmerizing, brooding and difficult to pigeon hole song: Featuring lyrics sung in alternating burst of English and Reunion Island Creole, the track begins with a cinematic opening organ and mournful yet regal horns before morphing into stunning electro pop centered around yearning church-like vocals, trippy yet propulsive polyrhythm, atmospheric synths and Picot’s unerring knack for infectious hooks paired with devastatingly earnest songwriting within material that’s simultaneously challenging and accessible.
With the release of Out in the Dark, the Israeli-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and JOVM mainstay MAGON quickly established a sound that he has publicly dubbed “urban rock on psychedelics.” Sonically, to my ears, the material seemed indebted to Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie and T. Rex.
Late last year, the Israeli-born, Paris-based artist released his critically applauded sophomore album Hour After Hour. Featuring tracks like “Change,” a dreamy meditation on the passing of time, “Aerodynamic,” a decidedly glam rock-inspired take on psych rock and the No Wave meets post-punk like album title track “Hour After Hour,” MAGON’s sophomore album was a decided change in direction with the album’s material being “somewhere between Ty Segall, Allah-Las and The Velvet Underground” according to MAGON.
MAGON’s third album In The Blue is slated for release in December. The forthcoming album reportedly finds the Israeli-born, French-based JOVM mainstay’s work inspired by two different sets of influences 70s rock like Lou Reed and Led Zeppelin and contemporary influences like Mac DeMarco and Devendra Banhart. Additionally, the album’s material is centered around contemplative songwriting.
In The Blue‘s first single “The Willow” continues a remarkable run of 70s rock inspired material, but paired with some of the most contemplative and introspective songwriting of the JOVM mainstay’s growing catalog: The song follows its characters through a trip to Egypt, where the narrator sees the titular willow. But the trip also serves a larger metaphor for its characters, who are trying to find something — themselves? some deeper, hidden truth? Whether they find something or not, is up to you.
Directed and shot by Magon and Alexa Rotarescu, the video for “The Willow” was gorgeously shot at the Coco Reef Ecolodge and follows the Parisian-based artist on a trip through Zanzibar.
Marc Braccagni is a 30 year-old, emerging Paris-based electronic music producer, best known as Krocodeal. He started out as a guitarist and although he discovered electronic music much later on; it changed his life — and the direction of his music career.
Inspired by the likes of Damon Jee and Darlyn Vlys, the emerging French producer has developed a unique sound centered around punchy beats, trance melodies and glistening chords.
Krocodeal’s latest single “Judge” is hypnotic club banger with a widescreen quality. Centered around glistening synth arpeggios, tweeter and woofer rocking beats, the new single sonically is one part retro-futuristic, John Carpenter-like soundtrack and one-part deep house.
Over the better part of the past decade, Paris-born Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, bassist, producer and JOVM mainstay Adeline has developed and honed a reputation for being one of the city’s most hardworking and prolific artists and performers: Initially making a name for herself as the frontwoman of acclaimed New York-based nu-disco/dance act Escort, the Paris-born, Brooklyn-based has received praise from Vogue, NPR,Refinery 29, Rolling Stone, The Fader, Bass Player, Blackbook and countless others.
Adeleine has played countless shows across the New York Metropolitan area –both a a member of Escort and as a solo artist. She has also opened for an eclectic and growing list of artists including Anderson .Paak, Lee Fields, Chromeo, Big Freedia and Natalie Prass and others. Adding to a growing profile, the JOVM mainstay has also made the rounds of the national festival circuit, with stops including Afropunk, Funk on the Rocks and Winter Jazzfest. But interestingly enough, last year may have been the busiest year of her career:
She released 21 songs, including 2 EPs.
She collaborated with Midnight Magic‘s and Hercules and Love Affair‘s Morgan Wiley as Nightshade, producing and appearing on KAMAUU’s “Mango.” The video is a viral hit, amassing over six million views since its release.
Adeline continues a remarkably prolific run with her latest effort, the recently released ADI OASIS EP. The seven-song EP features a handful of previously shared, fan-favorite singles and three new tracks. Interestingly, the EP’s title is derived from the boldly unapologetic, fearless yet vulnerable persona that she embodies on stage and in the studio. “Creating this EP during one of the weirdest times in our modern history — not just the pandemic, but also living through these difficult political times, global warming, struggle against racism, etc. — has brought to light a deeper meaning for what music is to me,” the JOVM mainstay says. “Music is my oasis, the stage is my oasis, the studio is my oasis.”
“Stages,” ADI OASIS EP‘s latest single continues the JOVM mainstay’s ongoing collaboration with KAAMAUU. Featuring a neo-soul arrangement featuring squiggling guitars, stuttering jazz-like drumming and Adeline’s sumptuous bass line, the slow-burning and self-assured strut is roomy enough for the JOVM mainstay’s old school, power house soul vocals and a lovingly pro-women verse from KAMAUU.
“Stages” is about my journey in the music business as a young black woman, but it’s relevant to indie artists in general, and everyone who’s hustling to reach their goals,” Adeline explains. ” I’ve had many experiences of not being taken seriously, of people making me feel like I’m not good enough, and of being hit on by fake aspiring collaborators who turned out to have ulterior motives. ‘Stages’ is my self-affirming chant reminding me that ‘I’m not going to take sh*t from anybody anymore. I got this. I trust myself’. Having KAMAUU on the song felt perfect because not only is he talented beyond words, but he’s also been a great advocate for me as a female producer.
“Stages is also a reminder to myself that no matter where I am in my musical journey, I’m right where I’m supposed to be. When people discover a ‘new artist,’ they often don’t realize they’re actually seeing the result of years and years of hard work. And while it’s tempting as an artist to compare ourselves to other artists who might seem to be having more success, every stage is a win — a necessary step towards the next one. There are so many different ways of measuring success, and every artist’s journey is unique. I get to create this story in the way that works for me.”
Directed by Adeline and KAMAUU, the recently released video for “Stages” features the pair of rising (and incredibly fashionable) artists artists in the studio and in various places around town — most notably The High Line and Bed Stuy.
Last year, I spilled quite a bit of virtual ink covering the rising Los Angeles-based indie electro rock act Carré that features:
Julien Boyé (drums, percussion, vocals): Boyé has had stints as a touring member of Nouvelle Vague and James Supercave. Additionally, he has a solo recording act Acoustic Resistance, in which he employs rare instruments, which he has collected from all over the world.
Jules de Gasperis (drums, vocals, synths, production and mixing): de Gasperis is a Paris-born, Los Angeles-based studio owner. Growing up in Paris, he sharpened his knowledge of synthesizers, looping machines and other electronics around the same time that Justice, Soulwax and Ed Banger Records exploded into the mainstream.
Kevin Baudouin (guitar, vocals, synth, production): Baudouin has lived in Los Angeles the longest of the trio — 10 years — and he has played with a number of psych rock acts, developing a uniquely edgy approach to guitar, influenced by Nels Cline, Jonny Greenwood and Marc Ribot.
Deriving their name for the French word for “square,” “playing tight” and “on point,” the Los Angeles-based trio formed back in 2019 — and as the band’s Jules de Gasperis explains in press notes, “The making of our band started with this whole idea of having two drummers perform together. It felt like a statement. We always wanted to keep people moving and tend to focus on the beats first when we write.” The members of the Los Angeles-based act specialize in a French electronica-inspired sound that frequently blends aggressive, dark and chaotic elements with hypnotic drum loops. Thematically, their work generally touches upon conception, abstraction and distortion of reality through a surrealistic outlook of our world. Their visuals tend to feature geometric shapes and patterns.
The act specializes in a French electronica-inspired sound that blends aggressive, dark and chaotic elements with hypnotic drum loops. Thematically, their work generally touches upon conception, abstraction and distortion of reality through a surrealistic outlook of our world. Their self-titled EP was released last year through Nomad Eel Records — and the EP featured the Uncanny Valley-era Midnight Juggernauts meets Tour de France-era Kraftwerk-like “Freeform,” a free flowing and improvised jam centered around glistening synth arpeggios, shimmering blasts of guitar, an insistent motorik groove, hi-hat driven four-on-the-floor and ethereal vocal samples.
“Freeform” was given the remix treatment by Parisian multi-instrumentalist Alex Tran, a.k.a. A.T.M. and interestingly enough, the A.T.M. remix adds a decidedly French house touch to the proceedings with glitchy sequences, muscular guitars, harder hitting beats, vocodered vocals while retaining the song’s free flowing and improvised jam-like feel and dark industrial vibes while essentially giving the song a dance floor friendly air.
Esther Maud is an emerging Paris-based multidisciplinary artist: Maud is a photographer, videographer and singer/songwriter, who also designs clothes and draws. As a songwriter, the rising French artist records sketches and snippets of melodies and verses as vice memos, that over time eventually become acapella recorded songs that are often simultaneously melancholy and playful. She then sends them off to producers across French to flesh out.
debut EP Puisque rien ne dure thematically touches upon love, particularly lost love, heartbreak, romantic reunions, longing and so on while seemingly drawing comparisons to the great French chanson singers like Françoise Hardy, Jacquline Taïeb and contemporaries like Claire Laffut and Clara Luciani. Puisque rien ne dure‘s latest single “Etranger solitaire” is a hook driven pop confection centered around the rising French artist’s breathy and coquettish cooing and a slick, dance floor friendly production that — to my ears — reminds me a little bit of Daft Punk. But underneath the song’s breezy exterior is a a sweet and swooning tale of reunited love.
French artist flying above the French seaside, hanging out with her best girlfriend and and a group of people attempting a Tik Tok-styled dance on the beach.
photographer, videographer and singer/songwriter, who also designs clothes and draws. As a songwriter, the rising French artist records sketches and snippets of melodies and verses as vice memos, that over time eventually become acapella recorded songs that are often simultaneously melancholy and playful. She then sends them off to producers across French to flesh out.
Maud’s debut EP Puisque rien ne dure thematically touches upon love, particularly lost love, heartbreak, romantic reunions, longing and so on while seemingly drawing comparisons to the great French chanson singers like Françoise Hardy, Jacquline Taïeb and contemporaries like Claire Laffut and Clara Luciani. Puisque rien ne dure’s latest single “Etranger solitaire” is a hook driven pop confection centered around the rising French artist’s breathy and coquettish cooing and a slick, dance floor friendly production that — to my ears — reminds me a little bit of Daft Punk. But underneath the song’s breezy exterior is a a sweet and swooning tale of reunited love.
Mackenzie Leighton is a rising San Diego-born, Paris-based indie folk singer/songwriter and musician. Leighton’s family moved to a small, seaside town in Maine, where she grew up and spent her formative years. Interestingly, the San Diego-born, Paris-based singer/songwriter […]
Deriving their name from one of the busiest lines of the Paris subway system, Ligne Quartre, which starts in the Porte de Clignancourt section towards the north, passes through the the heart of the city and ends in the Mairie de Montrouge section, just outside its limits, the rising Paris-based hip-hop collective — Dr. Lulu, Pif Au Mic, Koco and Exil — are inspired by Nepal, Sopico, NTM, Saian Supa Crew, Pablo Servigne and the films of Wong Kar-wai and Jim Jarmusch. Interestingly, the individual members of the French hip-hop collective can trace both the origins of their careers and the collective to over a decade ago: Koco and Dr. Lulu started rapping about a decade ago in Rouen while Pic Auc and Exil started rapping in Brittany.
Bonding over their mutual inspirations, the act eventually moved in together, living in an 18th century home, off the Chateau Rouge stop of Ligne Quatre. Last year, the collective released their debut EP Arrent Demande, which featured, the Jurassic 5-like “Trop de Temps.” Thematically, the EP touched upon lost loves, failure, global warming and a series of other concerns.
Building upon a growing profile, the act’s follow-up, sophomore six-song EP is slated for an early September release. In the meantime, the forthcoming EP’s first single “A Trois” features each of the collective’s emcees spitting effortlessly dexterous and densely worded French over an uneasy and woozy production centered around skittering, tweeter and woofer rattling trap beats, a looped, plucked guitar figure and rumbling low end paired with an enormous hook.
Directed by Le Labo — Lucas Le Roux, Elsa Milovanovic and Yann Omnés — the recently released visual for “A Trois” is a gorgeously shot yet surreal fever dream that finds Ligne Quatre’s three emcees seemingly lost in an unforgiving terrain that they all try to desperately escape, only to be trapped. Their hell is constant, infinite and renders each of them small and vulnerable.
