From Press Here AU REVOIR SIMONE Still Night, Still Light (May 19th, 2009; Our Secret Record Company)
“…the ladies of Au Revoir Simone create ethereal
electro-pop perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.” – Rolling Stone “Laying down beds of cozy, intertwining synths, Au Revoir Simone sing with disarming clarity about sadness and happiness and how neither is anything without the other.” – Planet
In 2007, Brooklyn’s Au Revoir Simone – comprised of three keyboard-curious ladies called Heather D’Angelo, Erika Forster and Annie Hart – gave us one of the most charming synth-pop albums of the year in the form of The Bird of Music. An album populated by thoroughbred horses, comets and stars, compasses and rulers, the lonely dark of winter and the unyielding landscape of Iceland, The Bird of Music set listeners squarely into Au Revoir Simone’s world, and bloomed with lots of critical acclaim upon its release. The girls then took off on their first proper American tours, opening for the likes of Peter Bjorn and John and co-headlining with Oh No, Oh My, while also gracing the stage in the UK and Europe, where they were asked to open for Air. They were crowned as darlings of the fashion world for their inimitable style, and spent their summer days playing shows in Japan and festivals all over the world. In their travels, they began to explore what it means to be gone from the places and people they love, while simultaneously coming back to those people again and again, only different each time. Exploring the complications of distance and closeness, they started to write a batch of new songs.
Produced by Thom Monahan (Vetiver, Little Joy), and recorded in various studios between Brooklyn, NY, and Los Angeles, CA, the result is their third album, entitled Still Night, Still Light, released on their own label, Our Secret Record Company. Although featuring songs written by all three ladies, the album has a tremendous thematic cohesion, as if composed by a singular voice. The collection of twelve songs sees our three keyboard-wielding heroines creating something that could only be called “elemental”. Gone are the bells and whistles of The Bird of Music, and in their place is a stark closeness, as if hearing a secret from someone you love for the first time. It’s a record that details reflection, seeking, questioning and losing one’s place on the page while looking for the right way home. It has some of the band’s most quiet moments (see the glacial grace of “The Last One”) while also containing some of their most raucous (see the dizzying exuberance of “Anywhere You Looked”). Indeed, Still Night, Still Light is the band at their most exposed, relying mainly on their keyboards, drum machine, and effortless voices to create a folk record without folk instruments, humming with resilience and wonder.
Opener “Another Likely Story” dazzles with twinkling drones and fizzy synthetic hi-hats, while “Shadows,” which follows it, has a frenetic Rhodes part following lyrics about escape. “Knight of Wands” shines with ebullient, warbling organs and a palpable sense of joy, “We Are Here” is meditative, anchored by a heartbeat-esque kick drum and a glowing background pulse, and “Tell Me” sees the girls experimenting with tempo shifts unlike ever before. And, despite the medium of mainly electronic instruments, the album simmers with an innate warmth; within these songs lies a circuitous current of energy that is gorgeously incandescent and instantly familiar.
Au Revoir Simone will be playing this year’s SXSW Festival, with a spring tour throughout America to follow.
The track listing for Still Night, Still Light: 1. Another Likely Story 2. Shadows 3. All or Nothing 4. Knight of Wands 5. The Last One 6. Trace a Line 7. Only You Can Make You Happy 8. Take Me as I Am 9. Anywhere You Looked 10. Organized Scenery 11. We Are Here 12. Tell Me |
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