Au Revoir Simone
01/16 Toronto, Ontario @ Lee’s Palace
01/17 Montreal, Quebec @ La Tulipe
01/18 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
01/25 West Hollywood, CA @ The Troubadour
01/26 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
01/27 San Francisco, CA @ Amoeba Music
Au Revoir Simone
The Bird of Music
March 5th, 2007
Moshi Moshi
“Au Revoir Simone is like Blonde Redhead without talent,” My fiancée Hillary said while listening to The Lucky One, the first track off of Au Revoir Simone’s second album The Bird of Music. The song had just taken a shocking turn from being a simple synthesized piano piece with a certain measure of beauty and composure to a sing-along bore-fest (look out for 2:29 on the track timer; it may shake your very foundation). While I think Hillary will admit that her judgment was a bit premature, and that the Blonde Redhead comparison goes no further than a few notes in a few songs, she has a point. At first listen, this album is a little vacant. “So let the sunshine, let it come…to show us that tomorrow is eventual.” The phrase repeats, each round becoming brighter and more hopeful. Yuck!
The second track, Sad Song, has been compared to something from Postal Service’s electronic pop opus, but any association with that record is best arrived at through Jenny Lewis. Rilo Kiley fans everywhere might be excited or viscerally offended by this record after listening to the intro of Fallen Snow. Why did I even buy this record? The album art made me do it. I persevered, slightly enjoying I Couldn’t Sleep, A Violent Yet Flammable World, and The Way to There, while slugging through the rest. After my first encounter The Bird of Music didn’t seem to have much in the way of musicality or depth, and I was left altogether uninterested. Like all albums however, a subsequent listening is rarely the same as the last.
I needed alone-time with Au Revoir Simone. I took out my headphones and listened again. Although I still cringe after 2:29 on The Lucky One, I realized that I love the line “Cause nothing’s worse than seeing you worse than me” from Fallen Snow. I was touched…really touched. The music is much more intricate than I had previously given credit. While it still suffers from a glossy-pop veneer, the textures of the synthesizers and beats breathe a creativity into what otherwise could be mistaken as lifeless drivel. However, you just might miss it if you don’t give the music your undivided attention. Even if you lack patience, you might simply dig it for its pop qualities.
Turn up the volume and have your 5.01 Dolby Digital speakers ready. This record fails to really reach out to the listener. It is shy, expecting you to make the first move. The lyrics are generally poetic and the vocals are gracefully feminine, even if it was hard at first to hear what they had to say. I am rooting for this Brooklyn based trio. The Bird of Music is a collection of electronic pop that has more to offer than it first lets on.
http://aurevoirsimone.com
http://www.myspace.com/aurevoirsimone
Other Albums
Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation (2006)
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