‘Filles A Plumes’ is Malajube’s brashest, more aggressive track on their sophomore album, Trompe L’oeil. It confuses me as to why they chose to lead the album with this single rather than the North American one, ‘Montreal -.40c’.

With ‘Filles A Plumes’, one’s introduction to Malajube - a band that has been lauded extensively in Canada after being nominated for the Polaris Prize (Canada’s Mercury) - is slightly skewed. Instead of coming off as a diverse, experimental melodic rock band, ‘Filles A Plumes’ brings out a harsher, jumpier tone, one that displays the band as garage rockers obsessed with early punk, something not particularly embraced on Trompe L’oeil.

This song is a cross between Arcade Fire and The Vines. It’s not that easy to describe, either, as the two aforementioned influences are at opposite ends of the stylistic indie chart. Yet, during the verses, an elevated harmonal consistency akin to Win and company dominates, while in the chorus a bellowed vocal trade-off combined with elastic, cutthroat guitar jabs takes over, reminding more of the rock that comes from Australia than Canada. I prefer the verse more than the chorus, because in summation, Malajube are better at art-rock than garage rock. ‘Filles A Plumes’ does not exemplify their artsy tendencies much; save that for the rest of the album.