Twin headed down to the Scala last week to catch up with Au Revoir Simone – the Brooklyn trio that puts out inimitably cool and wistful electronic pop. The ladies were in town for a rare London gig to celebrate their third album – Night Light – which is released next month on the ever hip label, Moshi Moshi.
We like quirky names – tell us where you got yours…
Annie: It’s from the movie Peewee’s Big Adventure. There’s a waitress in the movie called Simone who helps Peewee follow his dreams. So she inspires Peewee to go find his bike and he inspires her to leave her small town in Texas where she’s been waiting tables. And it’s something that they say when she’s leaving for Paris.
How would you describe your music?
Erika: I used to say lo-fi electro pop or keyboard pop, but I feel like with our new album we’ve entered this new…can we just say dream crystal?
Heather: I like it.
Annie: I don’t like it…
Erika: Nothing’s appropriate anymore…we’ve evolved so much.
Annie: I would say it’s all electronic music that doesn’t sound electronic…
Ok, so where do you get your influences from?
Annie: There is this band from Brighton called Electrelane and they have a way of making songs be simple but sound really big and beautiful.
Heather: And Stereolab – they have these amazing electronic soundscapes and
they’re warm too.
Erika: And we just played a show in Paris with Air, where we were all on stage together and we learned ten of their songs and they learnt five of ours and we did some covers. That was really cool, I feel we can relate to the way they write – they’re really attentive to the sounds, having several relationships with the sounds.
What’s the music scene like in Brooklyn?
Annie: It’s fun, its supportive, it’s collaborative – networking is so easy because everyone is so creative…almost everybody in our neighbourhood is a graphic designer or a photographer or video director, so there’s a really multi-talented support network.
Who are your favourite designers?
Annie: Oh there’s this designer called Rachel Antonoff, she’s new.
Annie: Yes she’s amazing.
Heather: We all like Philip Lim.
Erika: And there’s this website from New York called Refinary29.com that we all like. They have a great blend – not thinking about labels and designers. For me it’s just about finding rad stuff. We get to travel so much, this year I got to collect dresses from a beach shop in Singapore and amazing pieces from India.
So tell us, if we go to Brooklyn, what boutiques should we visit?
Erika: There’s this incredible one over on the Lower East Side called The Reformation and it’s this girl who had a clothing line called ‘Love by YaYa’ and she takes for example 80s silk pieces and cuts them to make them more contemporary.
Heather: Bird is really good; there are a lot of stores on the Lower East Side
Night Light is out 5th July
www.aurevoirsimone.com
www.moshimoshimusic.com/artists/au-revoir-simone
Top image: Inma Varandela
Words: Marissa Cox
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