Starting off the week with something unconventional and not in English. Les Lignes Droites (The Straight Lines, according to their Webpage) are a relatively new band, only together since 2012 (I think). You could consider them Indie, but since the songs are spoken and not sung and are atmospheric in their execution, you might want to consider them another genre. They have indicated a huge influence by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds (who are major in Europe) and there is a certain existential aura about their music.
But it’s hard to pigeonhole them. I found them to be completely engrossing, even though my French is on the par with gist translations, there is enough “meat on the bones” to be compelling, no matter what language is your native one.
Digging a bit deeper for some background on the band, it’s hard. Their website concentrates on their music and their releases (which there is their debut album from 2016 and an ep which came out in 2015 – you might want to check out their website for information on their releases, and I would urge you to check them out if this festival appearance whets your appetite.
And this review via the website Sun Burns Out offers a bit more insight, although the gist translation makes for some strange reading. Still . . .
“When we discover Humans, we are marked by the strength, control and consistency that emerge. This is a funny album, if not a funny album. With guitars in controlled tension, laid on a regular and elastic rhythmic background like a beating heart, the group Straight Lines describes an impersonal and emaciated universe, an anonymous space of life and almost without illusions. In the middle of this universe, we humans. Our doubts, our common queries sometimes vergiginous, often empty answers. In the genre, Humans is an impeccable success for his lyrics to the dark poetry, even nightmarish (Dust), and this insentient musical electric that maintain the subject in constant alert. A first album absolutely remarkable”.
Okay, ’nuff said – here is a taste, recorded live at the FIMU Festival in Belfort France from April 19, 2018 recorded and preserved by France Bleu Radio.
