Tag: The Limiñanas

Video by William Ruben Helms

Live Footage: The Limiñanas Perform “One Blood Circle” at Because Beaubourg

Founded back in 2009, acclaimed Cablestany, France-based duo The Limiñanas — Lionel Limiñana (guitar) and Marie Limiñana (drums) — have firmly established a sound that meshes French yéyé with contemporary garage and psych rock with lyrics sung in French and English.

Through their collaborations with a diverse array of artists, the French duo have a unique ability to distill the cachet of a nostalgic, highly cinematic era while revisiting it with through a modern lens. They’ve built up an international profile through collaborations with The Brian Jonestown Massacre‘s Anton Newcombe and New Order‘s Peter Hook.

During their early years, their material was released through labels here in the States; for a while, they had a much bigger profile Stateside than their native France. And adding to a growing international profile, they have high-profile admirers ranging from Primal Scream and Franz Ferdinand to Iggy Pop, who regularly plays them on his BBC 6 Music show.

After a 2015 collaborative album with Pascal Comeleade, the duo signed to French label Because Music, who re-issued their catalog in Europe. And since then they’ve continued to captivate audiences and critics globally through extensive touring across Europe, the UK and Australia.

The duo celebrate their extensive catalog with the release of their first live album, Live at Beaubourg, which is slated for a June 19, 2026 release through Because Music. Recoded during an exceptional weekend at Centre Pompidou, Live at Beaubourg brings the psych rock sounds of the acclaimed French duo with the visuals of contemporary artist SMITH.

The collaboration between The Limiñanas and Smith goes back to Normandie Impressionniste 2024. Festival director Philippe Platel thought it would be a great idea to bring both artists together. “I had already been listening to The Limiñanas for a long time, so I was delighted,” he says. At the time, the duo were working on their most recent effort, Faded, an album dedicated to Golden Era Hollywood actresses, who are no longer with us. This resonated with SMITH’s work, which often employs the use of thermal cameras. “What the camera sees is not the body but the heat it gives off, a kind of aura left behind before it disappears,” Smith says. That’s exactly what Faded is about: bringing these ghosts back through music.

Conceived to match the architecture and energy of Because Beaubourg, where the label turns the museum into a playground where performances, carte blanche events and even DJ sets from the likes of Thomas Bangalter and Fred Again.. , Live at Beaubourg serves as the only recording from that weekend and was envisioned as a documentary of the event, rather than a simple live “best of” album.

SMITH and the acclaimed French duo had imagined a collaborative show that would take place October 24, 2025 during Because Beaubourg at Centre Pompidou. The album captures the hypnotic eight-song performance in a continuous flow, featuring a backing band of five musicians and their longtime collaborator Pascal Comeleade playing songs across their catalog. That’s right, no interruptions. “What I love about live shows is achieving a kind of trance naturally through the performance. We had agreed there would be no interruption in the sound, with a ceremonial aspect as well, since we were closing Beaubourg before renovations,” Lionel Limiñana says.

Along with the album announcement, the duo will be embarking on their first-ever North American tour. The tour includes an October 24, 2026 stop at Le Poisson Rouge. And of course, the rest of the tour dates are below. But in the meantime, the acclaimed French duo shared a live version of broodingly cinematic “One Blood Circle,” featuring their longtime collaborator Pascal Comeleade. Anchored around a persistent and relentless pulse, “One Blood Circle” evokes the unease, dread and brutality of our late-stage capitalist, fascistic hellscape. And fittingly, SMITH’s visuals are haunting yet profoundly gorgeous.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Limiñanas Team up with Peter Hook on the Shimmering “The Gift”

Over the past couple of years I’ve written a bit about the Perpignan, France-based psych rock duo The Limiñanas, and as you may recall the duo have become one France’s most renowned indie acts, thanks in part for a sound that draws from psych rock, shoegaze, and yé-yé, centered around arrangements featuring fuzzy, distorted power chords, reverb heavy hooks and effortlessly cool vocals. And much like fellow countrymen La Femme, their sound is heavily indebted to 60s American guitar rock and psych rock — while managing to capture something  quintessentially French.

The last 18 months or so have been very busy for the French duo, as they released the Istanbul Is Sleepy EP, an effort that was initially recorded at their home studio and finished it at Anton Newcombe‘s Berlin-based studio. Of course,  The Brian Jonestown Massacre founder and frontman,contributed his imitable vocals and guitar playing to the scuzzy, garage rock stomper and EP title track “Istanbul Is Sleepy” which was reportedly influenced by Rain-era The Cult. Earlier this year, the duo released the Shadow People LP and the album finds the renowned French duo collaborating with a number of folks including French actress Emmanuelle Seigner and Renaud Picard, the frontman of Hair and the Iotas on the meditative and hazy “Shadow People,” Bertrand Belin on the chilly and menacing, synth-based  “Dimanche.” Adding to a very busy 18 months, Because Music will be releasing I’ve Got Trouble in Mind, Vol. 2, The Limiñanas’ second collection of rare recordings, 7 inch singles and unreleased material on November 16, 2018; but in the meantime. the duo released a video for “The Gift,” off Shadow People, a single that features the imitable and unforgettable bass playing of Peter Hook.  Interestingly — or perhaps I should say unsurprisingly — the track sounds like the perfect amalgamation of Hook’s most beloved New Order work with the renowned French duo’s effortlessly cool take on psych rock. “We wrote and recorded ‘The Gift’ at home in Cabestany and then finished it Berlin at Anton Newcombe’s studio,” explains Marie. “I’m pretty sure you’ll recognise Peter Hook’s lead bass. He’s been one of our heroes for a very long time.”  (I’ve Got Trouble in Mind, Vol. 2 features Anton Newcombe’s mix of the song, so in some way this video is something of a teaser for the compilation.) 

Directed by longtime collaborator Aurélien Richter, the recently released video is decidedly French New Wave-inspired and continues a run of incredibly cinematic accompanying visuals. Unsurprisingly, the video features Foulke de Boixo in a prominent role, and as the duo explains “The video reflects on high school years in gangs; the mods, the skins, the rockabs and the rudeboys smoking cigarettes while hanging in the schoolyard. ‘The Gift’ looks at what’s happened to two of these people over the years and how they may have missed out on a lifelong love story.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

The Limiñanas are a Perpignan, France-based duo, who have developed a reputation as one of France’s most renowned psych rock acts — and for a sound that comfortably straddles the boundaries of psych rock, shoegaze and and yé-yé, as their songs typically feature arrangements rooted around fuzzy, distorted power chords, reverb heavy hooks and effortlessly cool vocals. And while clearly being indebted to 60s guitar pop and psych rock, the duo manage to capture something quintessentially French.

Now, as you may recall, the duo’s Istanbul Is Sleepy EP was initially recorded at the duo’s home studio and finished at Anton Newcombe‘s Berlin-based studio, and unsurprisingly, the EP’s title track and first single “Istanbul Is Sleepy” found the French duo collaborating with the The Brian Jonestown Massacre founder and frontman, who contributed both his imitable vocals and guitar to a scuzzy, garage rock-like track with the sort of underlying menace reminiscent of The Black Angels — although interestingly enough, Newcombe was reportedly inspired by Rain-era The Cult.

As the members of The Limiñanas recall in press notes, the collaboration can trace its origins to last year, when Mojo Magazine asked them to contribute a track to a Kinks tribute compilation. “We chose ‘Two Sisters,’” Lionel explains in press notes. “Marie and I were thinking for the vocal part, it would be great to approach Anton Newcombe, having opened for The Brian Jonestown Massacre at Le Trianon in Paris. The work began like that. We had an album to record and we decided to finish it with him. During the Christmas week we took our demos, flew to Berlin and recorded at Anton’s studio. Six days later we had a finished album.”

The French psych rock duo’s latest single “Shadow People” is a jangling, slow-burning and almost meditative track with a hazy and dreamy hook that features a guest spot from French actress Emmanuelle Seigner. As Lionel explains in press notes, “The shadow people are an American myth, they are described as furtive apparitions, comparable to ghosts observable from the corner of the eye. These ‘spirits’ accompany throughout your all life, a sort of paranormal glue stuck to you . . . Emmanuelle came to visit us in the South of France, and we asked her to sing ‘Shadow People’ with Renaud Picard, the singer from Hair and the Iotas. We recorded it in just a few minutes over an afternoon…”.

Directed by frequent collaborator Aurelian Richter, the recently released video features the members of The Limiñanas, along with Emmanuelle Seigner, Renaud Picard, and Foulke de Boixo, who made a prominent appearance in the “Istanbul Is Sleepy” video. Shot in and around The Limiñanas’ Cabestany, France, Christmas-light strewn studio, the video manages to consist of a dichotomy between brilliant, summery light and murky shadow — with footage of Emmanuelle Seigner alternating between Super 8 color film-like sequences in a field and sultry, film noir-like sequences of Seigner strutting and grooving to the song, while Picard in night googles in set in the dark with the band. Naturally, the song continues the band’s reputation for pairing their material with bold and hazily lysergic visuals; but interestingly enough, the video comes on the heels of the duo announcing that their forthcoming full-length effort, Twisting the Shadow People is slated for a January 19, 2018 release through Because Music — and of course, the album will include “Shadow People,” from which the album derives its title.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Limiñanas Return with a Slow Burning and Meditative New Single

The Limiñanas are a Perpignan, France-based duo, who have developed a reputation as one of France’s most renowned psych rock acts — and for a sound that comfortably straddles the boundaries of psych rock, shoegaze and and yé-yé, as their songs typically feature arrangements rooted around fuzzy, distorted power chords, reverb heavy hooks and effortlessly cool vocals. And while clearly being indebted to 60s guitar pop and psych rock, the duo manage to capture something quintessentially French. 

Now, as you may recall, the duo’s soon-to-be released effort Istanbul Is Sleepy was initially recorded at the duo’s home studio and finished at Anton Newcombe’s Berlin-based studio, and unsurprisingly, the EP’s title track and first single “Istanbul Is Sleepy” found the French duo collaborating with the The Brian Jonestown Massacre founder and frontman, who contributed both his imitable vocals and guitar to a scuzzy, garage rock-like track with the sort of underlying menace reminiscent of The Black Angels — although interestingly enough, Newcombe was reportedly inspired by Rain-era The Cult.
As the members of The Limiñanas recall in press notes, the collaboration can trace its origins to last year, when Mojo Magazine asked them to contribute a track to a Kinks tribute compilation. “We chose ‘Two Sisters,’” Lionel explains in press notes. “Marie and I were thinking for the vocal part, it would be great to approach Anton Newcombe, having opened for The Brian Jonestown Massacre at Le Trianon in Paris. The work began like that. We had an album to record and we decided to finish it with him. During the Christmas week we took our demos, flew to Berlin and recorded at Anton’s studio. Six days later we had a finished album.”

The French psych rock duo’s latest single “Shadow People” is a jangling, slow-burning and almost meditative track with a hazy and dreamy hook that features a guest spot from French actress Emmanuelle Seigner. As Lionel explains in press notes, “The shadow people are an American myth, they are described as furtive apparitions, comparable to ghosts observable from the corner of the eye. These ‘spirits’ accompany throughout your all life, a sort of paranormal glue stuck to you . . . Emmanuelle came to visit us in the South of France, and we asked her to sing ‘Shadow People’ with Renaud Picard, the singer from Hair and the Iotas. We recorded it in just a few minutes over an afternoon…”.