Au Revoir Simone

Tonight is a complete industry wankfest. Why’s it a wankfest? Well, you see, the majority of people here are somehow involved in the music industry – a good sign for a band – but under the veil of darkness that enshrines the venue, each member of the audience is verbally jerking off their own ego with the classic “have you seen (insert new-average-indie-band) yet? They’re the next big thing.”

There’s good reason for this, though: over the space of the past couple years, Nu Yawk’s Au Revoir Simone have been slipping in and out of London with all the subtlety of Britney Spears’ impending mental illness, accruing the sort of fan loyalty that only one of those wacky Scientologists could understand when they hand over £500,000 and their first-born child under the pretense that it will now make them a Thetan Level 4. Their Moshi Moshi debut – Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation – only reinforced this and gained a cult following from those ‘insiders’ (synonym: media whores) lucky enough to be told of the low key release. Now with a new LP, The Bird Of Music, ready to be hummed out to the salivating loyal masses, tonight’s gig is an introduction to new material; none of which differs dramatically, but still maintains that sense of elegant elitism, with a touch of eccentricity.

Remember, in music class, the tone-deaf Special Ed kids always got lumped with dud instruments – like the triangle or kazoo – that not even those shit-midases could arse up? Au Revoir Simone have seemingly made a challenge of taking these instruments – along with the mandatory keyboard and drum machine – and creating a fully functioning, surprisingly good band. There’s an air of aspirant intellectualism to it, obviously trying to tap the Joanna Newsom meets Patrick Wolf (but without the limp wristedness… you know what I mean) demographic, and that’s a good thing in my eyes. It is original-ish sounding music that makes The Pipettes seem all the more like those damn girls from the Sheila’s Wheel’s adverts.

Apparently Au Revoir Simone is also David Lynch's favourite band. Given the Eraserheaded one’s renown arseholishness and demanding nature, that’s a massive compliment. And it’s totally understandable considering these three Amish-looking girls, without a single guitar / drum kit in sight, could have created the soundtrack to Twin Peaks V2.0. With such small-town Bible belt looks, but big city attitude, you just know their songs are going to be about as twisted as He-Man’s sexuality (come on, what was up with that dude?). Sounds good to me. On the strength of tonight, and the crowd’s jaws-to-the-floor reaction, it looks like their impending album is bound to be a cracker.