FEMME, LA - Mystere (2LP)

Direct from the Parisian overground, French pop connoisseurs La Femme will release their second album Myst?re this September. La Femme have made a huge mark on modern Paris's cultural landscape, by engraining in their music the two sides of the city : the glamour and the grit. Since the release of their debut album Psycho Tropical Berlin, their rise has only gained momentum with fans including directors Jacques Audiard and Romain Gavras to legends Jean Michel Jarre and Hedi Slimane as well as a growing young audience (they won French Best New Band of the Year at The French Music Awards and topped the French charts). Their music was also used for three major worldwide TV synchs : Apple, Renault and Sonos which have brought them great attention. They have toured several times in Germany and Austria and played such festivals as Torstrassen and Reeperbahn. Returning with a more psychedelic sound and numerous female guest vocalists that slice through the starkest of electro beats, La Femme celebrates their wonderful city and tackles the enigmatic questioning of falling in and out of love. Myst?re is indeed a compendium of short stories describing loves and losses and each song breaks down language barriers through an inventive and astute knack for melody. The band's chic retro-futurist surf-pop sound possesses the same dose of glamorous punk stomp as before, but this time around it's layered with an elegant fusion of influences from Ennio Morricone, Marie Et Les Garcons's disco-rock touch and the lysergic romanticism of The Velvet Underground. Through increased use of strings and further exploration of sound, Myst?re also incorporates the band's new love of oriental sounds, Turkish disco, Tuareg blues, medieval psychedelia to mainstays Brian Eno and Pink Floyd