Au Revoir Simone

Harboring a deep-seated love of keyboards and vintage drum machines, Brooklyn trio Au Revoir Simone – Heather D’Angelo, Erika Forester, Annie Hart - made their worldwide debut back in late 2005 when their mini album, Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation, was quietly released on various labels the world over (Moshi Moshi in the UK, Rallye in Japan, self-released in America).  Offering up a generous helping of charm and intelligence, Verses…. was a welcome lesson in what expertly layered synths, ethereal vocals, and palpitating drum machine disco beats should sound like when properly woven together. Rich in Suicides-esque melancholy and melody, the girls instantly emerged as a remedy of sorts to a then prevailing climate of male guitar band after not-so-dissimilar male guitar band.

But obviously, the story starts before that.  Au Revoir Simone began in the Fall of 2003 when Erika and Annie first became acquainted on a long train ride home to NYC from a weekend getaway with friends.  Discovering a common desire to form an all-keyboard band (eureka!), Erika and Annie started meeting regularly to play music. Soon, their mutual friend Heather joined their pack at informal bedroom band practices as they prepared for their first shows that winter. A romantic notion it may be, but fate, you might say, had a hand in their meeting – born out of a common love of synths, Au Revoir Simone came to be.

The band has come a long way since their inception back in 2003 however. Since their first trip to Europe and Japan a little over a year ago, ARS have undertaken a ton of their own shows in their native city, as well as an extensive tour of the US, Canada and Europe supporting fellow Brooklyn-ites We Are Scientists. Consequently, live they are tighter and more musically accomplished than ever before. And of course there’s the small matter of their first LP proper, The Bird Of Music…

Au Revoir Simone has carved out a place for themselves as a band who craft a 3D world of texture, taste and smell through narrative, melody and the overwhelming sense of “atmosphere” of time and place embedded in their music. ARS are a band with an essential respect for order and simplicity, but who also dabble in experimentation and playfulness. They take their inspiration from all manner of things:- place (Brooklyn and their musical peers contained therein/Iceland and the depths of the Peruvian jungle, as previously noted), people, life experiences, and other artists. Au Revoir Simone’s music is a profound mix of innocence and maturity, playfulness and insight:  the wholly endearing, not to mention welcome, girlish fantasies which color TBOM are ultimately tempered by the band’s philosophical and witty musings on life, love and friendship. The Bird of Music is a heart-melting, spirit-raising, bona fide grand accomplishment. Listen well.

Au Revoir Simone will perform at Osheaga on September 9th 2007 which will undoubtedly be an amazing performance.