Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
Showing posts with label Emmanuelle Seigner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emmanuelle Seigner. Show all posts
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
I first became aware of L'Épée following The Limiñanas superb show at the 100 Club in London back in February. They played a couple of great sounding songs that I didn’t recognise and I guessed they were new unrecorded tracks. After a bit of research I found a couple of demos on YouTube under the name L'Épée. I was intrigued and then news filtered out that this was some new kind of ‘super-group’, the idea for which could probably be traced back to the release of last year’s Limiñanas album “Shadow People”. The Limiñanas are an unorthodox band. They are a duo comprising the husband and wife team of Marie and Lionel Limiñana and as neither are lead vocalists, they prefer to recruit guest musicians and singers to bring their songs to life. This philosophy culminated in the excellent 2018 album “Shadow People” which featured Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, actress and singer Emmanuelle Seigner and vocalist Bertrand Belin who all contributed standout songs. They must have enjoyed working together as Lionel, Belin and Newcombe set about writing new material together initially with the idea of a new solo album for Emmanuelle. However, this idea soon developed into a brand new band instead which they named L'Épée and the resulting songs would go towards the stunning debut album “Diabolique”. At first I thought it would remain a studio project but the announcement of extensive live dates was met with intense anticipation. Unfortunately, Belin isn’t involved in the touring line-up, which is made up of Marie on drums and Lionel on guitar, Emmanuelle on lead vocals, Anton on guitar and then basically The Limiñanas line-up that I saw at The 100 Club (minus vocalist Nika Leeflang who is now working on some excellent solo material as can be heard in our latest episode of Retrosonic Podcast).
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
As the band takes the stage of EartH in Hackney, the first thing I notice is this large broadsword appearing out of the dry ice and lights like Excalibur. As L'Épée means sword in French it was an apt piece of decoration and it would certainly deter any would-be stage invaders, that’s for sure. The glowing Moroccan lanterns hanging all around the stage provide the perfect backdrop to opening song “La Brigade De Maléfices”. With it's snakelike Arabic influenced riff and exotic swelling keyboards, it could almost be the score from a movie set deep inside the chaotic souks and Medina of Marrakech. I’ve always found The Limiñanas to be incredibly cinematic, in fact it’s no surprise that the latest release from the prolific Marie and Lionel is the soundtrack to Pierre Creton’s movie “Le Bel été” and with L'Épée, they have carried this feel even further. Yes, there are elements of fuzzed-up 60’s Garage Rock nuggets, the nihilistic attack of The Stooges and the feedback drenched Drone-Rock of The Jesus & Mary Chain and Spacemen 3, but there are also evocative touches of Spaghetti Western and Nouvelle Vague movie themes too. I think Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin and John Barry might be as much an influence as The Velvet Underground, Serge Gainsbourg, Can and Suicide. The gig that follows is a truly mind-blowing experience, one that is going to stay with me for years to come. Marie’s hypnotic floor-tom heavy beat is at the heart of everything, it’s almost mantra-like, completely bereft of cymbals and hi-hat, Emmanuelle’s tambourine is the only percussive accompaniment. Lionel attacks his guitar, a master of knowing when to hold back and when to hit you between the eyes with a stinging fuzzed-up chord. His sense of dynamics allied to Marie’s drumming is probably the key to the sound of both L'Épée and The Limiñanas too.
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
The band perform the whole of “Diabolique” (minus “Springfield 61”) and despite the album only being a few months old, it already feels like an old favourite that’s been part of the collection for years, such is the quality of the song-writing. Emmanuelle is a charismatic presence swaying away to the grooves, an archetypal Femme Fatale and her voice is perfect for the material, often delivered in sultry spoken passages. Although she is probably better known as an actress, she is certainly no stranger to Rock ‘n’ Roll having released a couple of great solo albums and a collaboration with the Psych Rock band Ultra Orange. Fans of The Brian Jonestown Massacre will no doubt appreciate Anton’s instantly recognisable sound and memorable riffs when they hear L'Épée, and tonight his guitar playing is superb. There is however a section of one song where the complicated riffing and time signatures drop out of sync and you feel the tension rise. You can also sense the nerves in the crowd, hoping that Anton doesn’t blow his top. Luckily, he seems more annoyed at himself and before the tension gets too much, they all suddenly lock back into the groove and take off again with just a pinch of additional aggression. One of the highlights of the set is an upbeat new song “Beginnings of Sorrow” which is more of a catchy Garage Yé-yé number and with it’s insistent "I say yeah!" chorus; it would make an ideal single. The good news is that it hints to more L'Épée material to follow in the future. “Dreams” is another high point, crashing in on a “Gloria” style riff; it certainly raises the temperature in the strangely cold venue. At one point they all crowd around Marie’s drumkit, the orange lights and smoke create a really spooky scene and as the music builds to a crescendo Anton scrapes his guitar neck down the broadsword.
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
Things slow down a bit with sublime performances of the atmospheric “On Dansait Avec Elle” and “Grande” and you can appreciate the subtle textures that the band is capable of. I spoke before in my review of The Limiñanas 100 Club gig one thing that struck me is the skill that Marie and Lionel have in assimilating many and varied guest musicians and vocalists to bring their music to life. The main core of the band are also great characters in their own right. There’s Renaud Picard from the excellent Crank on guitar and vocals and super cool bassist Mikey Malaga, swaying and swinging his low-slung Fender. Then there’s Alban Barate who plays keyboards and adds yet another guitar. In fact, I haven’t seen a line-up with so many guitars since the last time I saw The Blue Aeroplanes. Ivan Telefunken is a true character but unfortunately he’s almost hidden away at the back and his fluorescent dotted guitars and keyboards are often all that’s visible through the dry ice. He coaxes strange electronic sounds and controlled feedback from his collection of brightly coloured equipment, swinging his guitar around for maximum effect and his presence adds a touch of unpredictability to proceedings. They remind me of The Soundtrack of Our Lives in their prime where each band member adds their own unique stamp on proceedings and their energy makes for a stunningly exciting visual display. Talking of TSOOL – have a listen to their great collaboration with Jane Birkin, “Midnight Children” – it could almost be a forerunner of “Shadow People”.
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
L'Épée at EartH Hackney, London - Photo Retro Man Blog
Current single “Ghost Rider” is another high point, reprising The Limiñanas “I’m Dead” in the chorus and the B-side, the powerful Garage Rocker “Shiny Shiny” also stands out. For “Istanbul Is Sleepy”, Anton puts down his guitar and crouches on the floor to manipulate his effects pedals while delivering his only lead vocal of the night. They end the set with a blistering ‘Un Rituel Inhabituel’, which segues into ‘The Train Creep A-Loopin’, and then it’s all over. There’s no encore, basically because they couldn’t really follow up such a perfectly plotted set and the appreciative crowd certainly understand, filing out into the freezing December air thoroughly satisfied. It was a stunning show and gig of year as far as I’m concerned, jumping into top spot ahead of – yes, you guessed it - The Limiñanas at The 100 Club. You can read the review of that show in the Blog archive here.
More photos of the gig can be found at our official Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and there are more videos at our YouTube channel over here. For more information please click on the highlighted links throughout the feature. You can also check out the official sites for L'Épée here and The Limiñanas here. "Diabolique" is released on A Recordings and is available from Cargo Records.
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
This was my first live experience of The Limiñanas and I was curious to find out how the Perpignan based duo of Lionel and Marie Limiñana would recreate their studio sound on stage. Each album features a somewhat bewildering cast of guest musicians and vocalists whose names have become more familiar as their reputation grows. Anton Newcombe from The Brian Jonestown Massacre guested on the excellent single “Istanbul Is Sleepy” and has gone on to produce their latest outstanding LP “Shadow People”. French actress Emmanuelle Seigner sings on that album’s title track and Joy Division and New Order’s Peter Hook adds his instantly recognisable trademark bass to "The Gift", following up his appearance on their last album "Malamore". The Limiñanas are the band that have everything, everything except cymbals that is. The first thing I see as I walk into the 100 Club is a huge bass drum resplendent with the band’s logo, pushed right to the front of the shallow stage. There’s also a floor tom and a snare drum but there's not a cymbal or Hi-Hat in sight, just a tambourine fixed to the floor tom for added percussion and that’s it. The Limiñanas sound is based on Marie’s pounding hypnotic Mo Tucker style. She is a remarkable drummer; how she can keep that rhythm up throughout the show without being exhausted, I just don’t know.
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
They are certainly an unorthodox band, Lionel attacks his guitar and cranks out some excellent riffs but doesn't sing at all during the show, his microphone is only used to say thank you every now and then. What Marie and Lionel have done is to assemble a quite superb band around them to realise their sound and vision perfectly. Each member has their own distinct character and personality and there's a great chemistry between all of the musicians on stage; this is certainly not just a bunch of session musicians thrown together to do a tour. Ivan Telefunken almost steals the show despite being set up behind Marie’s drums. He is a constant blur of motion. If he’s not swaying along to the music or adding backing harmonies, he’s playing a small keyboard or throwing his guitar and ukulele about with abandon. One minute he’s attacking his guitar violently with a bottleneck slide and the next it’s a violin bow. At one point, he even bangs it alarmingly with a large metal spoon. All the tools of his trade are brightly painted with multi-coloured polka dots and it makes a great visual contrast as the rest of the band are decked out all in black. Renaud Picard takes on the main male vocal parts and acoustic guitar and behind him is Alban Barate on guitars, ukulele and keyboards. The lead female vocals are handled by Nika Leeflang, who also bashes away on a tambourine, often half hidden behind her swirling hair. To her side, Bassist Mickey Malaga looks cool with his low-slung Fender Precision bass, Paul Simonon and JJ Burnel style, just as any good bassist should.
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Limiñanas are not only a visually impressive live band; their sound is also extremely cinematic. Throughout their albums and indeed tonight’s show, they drop in instrumental interludes such as “Tigre du Bengale” that mix exotic Eastern, Turkish and Moroccan motifs. Overall, their sound is infused with Ennio Morricone’s Spaghetti Western soundscapes and John Barry’s Spy movie and TV theme tunes with twanging surf guitar riffs and an impressive sense of dynamics. Ivan coaxes weird feedback and noises out of a strange contraption and this adds layers of distortion and depth to the proceedings. This evocative approach is also to the fore in their spoken word vignettes such as “Dimanche”, which are obviously heavily influenced by Serge Gainsbourg’s classic “Histoire de Melody Nelson”. One of my favourite songs on the new album is the title track “Shadow People” which in the recorded version features vocals by the actress and musician Emmanuelle Seigner. It reminds me of The Soundtrack of Our Lives “Midnight Children” in which the Swedish Psych Rock legends invited Jane Birkin to duet with their singer Ebbot Lundberg. The good thing is that, rather like TSOOL, The Limiñanas take their varied influences and twist them into something totally unique. You can sense that they are enthusiastic music fans but they are certainly not trapped by their inspirations and do not fit easily into any particular genre. After all, Lionel has gone on record as saying that The Limiñanas basic rule is to “respect no dogma”. This is apparent in some of the cover versions they have recorded by acts as diverse as The Beach Boys, Jay Reatard, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Kinks and Lords of The New Church. Actually, I was disappointed they never played LOTN’s “Russian Roulette” even though it was down on the set-list as a possible encore. Nouvelle Vague have already recorded a Bossa Nova version of “Dance With Me” and with the new Stiv Bators documentary, maybe The Lords of The New Church will finally get a well-deserved reappraisal!
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
Two unfamiliar numbers really stand out, “Dreams” and “Last Picture Show” turn out to be unreleased songs from a new project called L'épée which features Lionel and Marie along with Anton Newcombe and Emmanuelle Seigner. I’ve been told they have an album’s worth of material already recorded and that will definitely be something to keep an eye on. Despite incorporating some challenging, discordant elements into their music, The Limiñanas never lose that all-important sense of melody, particularly on the fuzzed up riffs of their debut single “I’m Dead” and my personal favourite “Funeral Baby”, both of which, despite the rather morbid titles, are as catchy as hell. Nika’s voice really shines on these two numbers and her breathy, sultry style is the perfect match. It wasn’t a surprise to discover that she is also a singer songwriter in her own right with two excellent EP’s out under the name The Nika Leeflang Project. One of the highlights of the gig for me was “Crank” which was a blast of raw Garage Rock adrenaline. I didn’t know this song at all but after a bit of research found out it was from one of Lionel’s old bands, The Beach Bitches. Trying to track down more information led me to discover Renaud’s band Crank who were so inspired by The Beach Bitches song that they named themselves and their debut album after it as well as recording their own version. I must just add that the Crank album is superb and the fact that they mention The Prisoners as an influence earns them extra points.
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Limiñanas at The 100 Club - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog
One of the best things about having a “new favourite band”, especially one with such an eclectic musical palette, is that you can happily embark on a voyage of discovery, looking into what each member was up to before, along with any side projects, collaborations and unknown cover versions. For example, before The Limiñanas Lionel and Marie were in Les Bellas and they have an excellent compilation album of early releases called “Belladellic” which is well worth getting hold of. So I’m now on the trail of Pascal Comelade, Bertrand Belin, Ultra Orange, The Toxic Farmers and The Llamps and I’ve even managed to get hold of a compilation of Perpignan based Garage Rock bands. Oh, and I just noticed Hair & The Iotas too so it looks like I have a lot of listening to do. Anyway, back to the gig and a totally wired version of Can’s “Mother Sky” hints at yet another side of the band and that hypnotic driving rhythm certainly makes sense. By coincidence, I bump into The Undertones Damian O’Neill who also plays in the The Everlasting Yeah a band who merge Can’s motorik beat with Television's Richard Lloyd/Tom Verlaine entwined guitar style to great effect. Damian is as enthusiastic about the show as I am and it’s nice to see him shake hands and congratulate bassist Mickey at the end of their set. Up next is the excellent “Betty & Johnny” from their second album “Crystal Anis” and they encore with a raucous sing-along version of “Gloria”. This segues into a manic instrumental and as the song implodes and the set ends, the band look genuinely touched by the warmth of the reaction from the crowd. I am so pleased that I got the chance to be there, right down the front of the packed out 100 Club as I have a feeling that the band will be selling out a much larger venue next time they come to play in London. However, the most exciting thing of all is that musically The Limiñanas have not set themselves any boundaries, they can evolve in any way they choose. So as a fan, it will be fascinating to continue following them on the journey that lies ahead.
For more information on The Limiñanas please check out their official web-site or their Facebook page. Nika Leeflang's music can be found at her Nika Songs website. For more of our photos of the 100 Club gig please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook and there are more videos at our YouTube channel.
