REVIEW: Autour De Lucie, Immobile (Nettwerk)
- Scott Byron
French art-popsters Autour De Lucie are at once instantly accessible and difficult to define. Sultry singer/co-songwriter/acoustic guitarist Valerie Leulliot is the obvious focal point of the band -- her warm, breathy voice is at the center of all the tracks here. But the music on Immobile comes from so many directions and mixes so many influences and styles that each listen reveals more layers.
A first obvious comparison would be with Portishead -- on some tracks there's a mix of live instrumentation with sampled rhythms ("Salon\l'humeur," "La verite (sur ceux qui mentent)) behind Leulliot -- but Autour De Lucie is much less dramatic and stylized. On many tracks, the way the electric and acoustic guitars bounce off each other recalls American and English folk-rock; but others ("Chanson sans issue (ne vois-tu pas)" most notably) are also rooted in the once-revolutionary, now quaint synth-pop of the early '80s, like Heaven 17. One track, "Les promesses," has a climax that would have worked beautifully for the Bongos. There's a loping, Chris Isaak-like feel to "L'eau qui dort." And I would imagine that there are other, more obvious and direct influences in French pop history that are alien to me as an American listener.
And I speak little French, so the lyrics are largely a mystery to me. But the mysteriousness of this recording -- and this band -- is part of its appeal. Mysterious, eclectic, sensuous, moody... all good words to describe Autour De Lucie.
