Autour De Lucie
Faux Mouvement
Le Village Vert / Small

It should't be necessary to present the label Le Village Vert, which is an important element of the French pop trend, with an enriched and various catalogue. The release of the third album of Autour De Lucie allows me to mention it again. We definitely talk about this group at the moment, for example with the last novel of the Americain writer Bret Easton Ellis, Glamorama (which of course is more fictitious), in mind.

Everything started at the beginning of 1992, with the first demos of Valé rie Leulliot, now singer/guitarist of the band. Gradually, the group shaped up with the encounter with guitarist Olivier Durand (he left a few years ago) and bassist Fabrice Dumont. At the end of 1994, the first album L'Echappée Belle was released, with 11 refreshing pop songs, sometimes naïve but never simplistic and above all with no pretension. Anyway, the music was far from the arrogant Britpop which was on at that time in England. The album was introduced most exciting in USA, Japan and Canada. There was also an American release with an eponymous title in 1996 (Nettwerk).

Meanwhile there were some changes with the voluntary severance of Olivier Durand, replaced by Jean-Pierre Ensuque, and the integration of drummer Bruno Saunier (who was replaced by Sébastian Buffet for the third album). After a lot of concerts, interspersed with some singles and EPs, the band went back to studio in 1996 to record a second album with producer Gilles Martin (dEUS, Christophe Miossec, Little Rabbits, Dominique A), released in the beginning of 1997 in Europe, and in 1998 in the USA. We can find the same qualities as for the precedent album, obviously with more skill and more maturity, particularly with more guitars and the apparition of electronic laps.

Faux Mouvement was released a few weeks ago, and it's in the tradition of the precedents, but we can hear more string instruments and more electronic tones. This musical diversification brings undeniably a plus, just as the perfect production of Ian Capple (Tricky, The Tindersticks, Alain Bashung). But we can notice - fortunately - that the unaffectedness of the whole makes this band always pleasant. We can point the calculated risks out for this new album, which proves the ability of the musicians to vary their style. So, if the "pop" basis is the main theme, Autour De Lucie has certainly reached his artistic maturity. It only presents the luxurious orchestration with electronic progressions, with silky laps and harmonic strings tones. The group sometimes even creates an ambiant music feel by neglecting the classical "verses - chorus" side of the pop. This is not obvious at the beginning of the album because of the first song Je Reviens, the most acoustic, or Le Dernier Mot, already released on the Le Village Vert compilation Panorama, but remixed for this album. But the electronic atmosphere prevails with the others tracks, i.e. 9 of the 11 that are on Faux Mouvement. Some more remixed songs will also soon be recorded.

So, if you, like me, can't stand listening to bands like Oasis, unable to change their style, let's make a detour through Faux Mouvement...

Copyright © 2000 Patrick Dubail