Here's an article I wrote, originally published in Amplifier.
As they wrap up a track on forthcoming album The Bird of Music, one of those complicated-looking ganja-vaporizing machines lies on the table in Au Revoir Simone’s studio. The three women in this dreamy, innocent-sounding tweetronica keyboard band are rule breakers who shun the idea of having an image, who don’t believe in playing minor roles in mostly male bands, and who have no idea what the hell this contraption is.
Heather D’Angelo claims to have asthma and Annie Hart says she was home schooled. Like their delicate sounds, the unfeigned pleas cause pause.
“We’re a real hardcore rock and roll band,” Annie laughs.
Au Revoir Simone make no qualms about nurturing their inner dorks. From hoola-hooping in venue parking lots to blushing when magazines name one of them a fashion trendsetter, they’re simply enjoying playing in a band they thought would be relegated to performing cover songs at birthday parties. Though expanding their previously lo-fi instrumentation, Erika Forster recognizes an element of silliness there, too. “In a lot of ways that cheesy ‘80s Casio sound is our music, we just kind of have to go with it.” And it’s working.
With a reissue of their first CD, plus remixes, and a UK tour ahead, ARS focus on finishing Bird of Music, without a US label. “We were very proud and happy with [Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation], but we want to accomplish a more lush, thick sound. Something more like a world you can go into,” Annie explains, gesturing with her arms. So actually mixing the tracks in a studio is really helping, and the fact that they hadn’t ever done that before sends them into fits of laughter. For the last release, they sometimes even recorded before songs were anywhere near completion, like “Stay Golden” — the Outsiders-influenced bitter-breakup closer about a boy nicknamed Pony. “The songwriting decisions are like one us will have a screwball idea that you expect to be totally shot down. But no,” Heather rolls, “not in this band.” When she wandered into the recording of the uplifting “Hurricanes,” she decided she wanted the tempo to abruptly quicken and this rallying almost-chorus to start up right in the middle of the song. “We were all cracking up,” Erika remembers, “because we were like, ‘Yeah, we can do that. We can do whatever we want!’” Agreeing that like their band name (a line from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure), they try things jokingly that end up being “pretty cool.” Clearly they’ve never been interested in orthodoxy.
Each member has a keyboard and a voice box and uses them to sweeping effect; their democratic studio debates seem more supportive than AA; at times, they don’t even verbalize to make group decisions. “There are no rules. Each of us can be so much more creative because there aren’t any specific roles,” Erika blurts excitedly. With no lead singer, no lead keyboardist, and no power struggles, Heather thrills, “We almost act together as one girl, one supergirl!”
08.10.07 - New York, NY (Seaport Music Festival)
08.13.07 - Boston, MA (TT The Bear's)
08.14.07 - Montreal, QC (Main Hall)
08.15.07 - Toronto, ON (Lee's Palace)
08.16.07 - Cleveland, OH (Beachland Ballroom)
08.17.07 - Chicago, IL (Abbey Pub)
08.18.07 - Minneapolis, MN (7th Street Entry)
08.21.07 - Seattle, WA (Chop Suey)
08.22.07 - Vancouver, BC (Media Club)
08.23.07 - Portland, OR (Holocene)
08.24.07 - San Francisco, CA (Bottom Of The Hill)
08.25.07 - West Hollywood, CA (Troubadour)
08.26.07 - San Diego, CA (Casbah)
08.29.07 - Denton, TX (Rubber Gloves)
08.30.07 - Austin, TX (Emo's)
09.01.07 - Baton Rouge, LA (Spanish Moon)
09.02.07 - Birmingham, AL (Bottle Tree)
09.03.07 - Atlanta, GA (Drunken Unicorn)
09.04.07 - Chapel Hill, NC (Local 506)
09.05.07 - Washington, DC (Rock & Roll Hotel)
09.06.07 - Baltimore, MD (Ottobar)
09.07.07 - Philadelphia, PA (Vacuum)
09.08.07 - New York, NY (Mercury Lounge)
09.09.07 - Montreal, QC (MEG Festival)
09.10.07 - Ottawa, ON (Babylon Nightclub)
09.15.07 - Morrison, CO (Monolith Festival)
09.16.07 - San Francisco, CA (Treasure Island Music Festival)
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