02/09/2008

New album "Rougeole" Les Tr?s Bien Ensemble

After three intense years since their debut album, "Doux-Amer," they have not stopped for a minute. Have you heard Suzette on the EP "Sing Along With the ACID HOUSE KINGS" from the Swedish group, ACID HOUSE KINGS (another one of Johan’s groups- from CLUB 8 and THE LEGENDS) or their song "A Hélène" in the "Blancolor" three year campaign of the Spanish store, El Corte Inglés?; Maybe you saw them live at the Benicassim Festival or the Lemon Pop Festival in Murcia or on television when they played "Live Concerts for Radio 3," or maybe you were one of their die-hard fans who traveled to England to follow their mini-tour with THE WOULD-BE GOODS, with excellent performances in London, Nottingham and Oxford. Perhaps you saw them live in France. LES TRÈS BIEN ENSEMBLE are back with a new album which should mean a peak in their musical career. With the new incorporation of Charles Gasqué, the one and only Carlos Andreu (GASCA), the band from Barcelona has put out an exquisite piece of work of unique pop, where it is precisely the time of leitmotif which pushes and inspires the majority of songs on this album.
 
"The title, "Rougeole" (“measles” in French) makes reference to something that only time can heal. Time means life and death all at once, something out of human control which inexplicably advances to a particular destiny. "Rougeole" talks about the end of a vital stage, from disappointments to obsessions and desires, from hope to desperation, from excitement to anguish, reliance, nostalgia and indifference”, says Suzette.

Working knowingly with references which are so proudly made apparent (Françoise Hardy, Serge Gainsbourg, KATERINE, Keren Ann, Johnny Cash, Brian Wilson, THE BYRDS, THE ZOMBIES, LOVE …), LES TRÈS BIEN ENSEMBLE give form to a mature piece of work, which finds a curious equilibrium between bitterness and vitality, between the definite inherent difficulties in life and the need of hope which helps to see the light at the end of the tunnel. An album which Suzette is amazing at her lyrics- songs such as  "Sahara," "Tahiti n’est pas si loin," "Prière," "Le miroir" and "Un jour" all convert into some amazing pieces of French pop we have not heard in a long time. The wine that so beautifully ages in an oak cask (French, of course), the pastries which are so delicately marinated, the novel which grows slowly in the author’s mind over years—none of these metaphors give the sensations and feelings of this great piece of work the justice it desserves. "Rougeole"- twelve songs, like the twelve stops on a clock.
 
This is an album inspired by the identity problems of thirtysomethings, in vampires and angels, in typography, foie, in the short span of human life, in the hammock boycotter, in the energies which unite and divide us, in repressed sex, in vanity, in olive oil, in the woman who is constantly incapable of being happy, in Chanel nº 5, in Salvation, in red wine, in Carson McCullers, in the Sahara, in a Peter Pan who runs from boredom and his relationship problems, in marble, in Eddie Sedwick, in childhood summers on the coast, in Boris-Karl Huysmans, in frustration, in swimming, in worrying, in Gonzalo’s robe, in parents, in Arthur Lee, in hazelnut ice cream, in "Blue Lagoon," in fresh air, in château de Chambord, in the loss of childhood, in the diaphragm, in cemeteries, in squirrels, in incense, in lies, in Formentera, in adrenaline, in gray, in Marlilyn, in the existential void, in the Mediterranean pine, in truth, in the girl who seeks protection, fun, a bit of sex and a lot of love, in the first impression, in fear, in "La dolce vita," in bad vibes, in Paris, in massages, in bicycles, in gold, in Saul Bass, in an ideal, in a game of pilla- pilla, in spiritual peace, in counting back in time, in the sun at three o’clock on an afternoon in August…
 

LES TR?S BIEN ENSEMBLE: new album "Rougeole"
picture: Les Tr?s Bien Ensemble publican "Rougeole"
02/09/2008




LES TR?S BIEN ENSEMBLE: new album "Rougeole"
picture: Les Tr?s Bien Ensemble publican "Rougeole"
02/09/2008




ELEFANT PARTY in 8,5 Club [March 27th]: Speedmarket Avenue + Les Tr?s Bien Ensemble + Bob Stanley Dj [St Etienne + Dj Polar [Luis Elefant]
picture: Fiesta Elefant en el Ocho y Medio
27/03/2009