Album review

Louise attaque

The Counter-Attack

Paris 

28/01/2000 - 

Paris-based band Louise Attaque - aka the folk-rock phenomenon of '98 - are back in the music news with a host of hot new tour dates and their eagerly-awaited new album "Comme on a dit" (Atmosphériques/Sony Music). No doubt about it, this exciting new indie band is slowly but surely continuing their rise to fame.

It's official, it's possible to sell millions of albums and still behave like a genuine indie band! And if you don't believe that, just take a look at the case of Louise Attaque. The hot young foursome - Gaëtan Roussel (guitar/vocals), Robin Feix (bass), Arnaud Samuel (violin) and Alexandre Margraff (drums) - scored a phenomenal hit with their debut studio album, which went on to sell a staggering 2 million copies (that's more than a new album by French mega-stars such as Johnny Hallyday and Francis Cabrel!)

What's more, Louise Attaque managed to achieve their phenomenal track record without the slightest help from the record industry or the French media. Back in '96 the group trailed round Paris presenting their demo tape to various labels - and getting rejected everywhere! The perseverant foursome finally managed to get their first album "Louise Attaque" released on 22 April 1997 on Atmosphériques (a label distributed by Sony Music), having prepared the ground beforehand by performing a 40-date concert tour. Having earned themselves an excellent reputation as a live band, Louise Attaque went on to perform a further hundred dates or so following the release of the album.

However, the album "Louise Attaque" met with almost complete indifference from the French media. Thanks to the group's live concerts though sales steadily progressed and when they topped the 300,000 mark, French radio stations finally woke up to the Louise Attaque phenomenon and began playing the group's first singles ("J't'emmène au vent" and "Ton invitation"). But the harm had been done. After the media had practically ignored their debut album, Louise Attaque were none too eager to co-operate with the French press after their success. While French mega-stars such as Jean-Jacques Goldman and Mylène Farmer often refuse interviews and TV appearances (after they've established themselves at the top of the charts!), it's uncommon for newcomers to buck the system. But when, like Louise Attaque, you've made it on your own, it's perhaps understandable that following the release of their second album, "Comme on a dit", the group are merrily turning down requests for interviews and photo sessions!

The weekly French music and cultural magazine "Les Inrockuptibles" managed to put together a 4-page spread on Louise Attaque by interviewing the band's friends and colleagues, while the daily newspaper "Libération" actually managed to squeeze a few words from group members themselves after a concert in Rennes. However, Louise Attaque seem to be in no need of help from the media. The group's absence from the press has actually spurred demand and their second album "Comme on a dit" (released on January 18th) has already shot straight to n°1 in the French album charts. (Having said that, however, it would be difficult for sales of "Comme on a dit" equal the phenomenal commercial success of the group's first album!)

Written and composed between October 1998 and June 1999 and recorded in a month the following autumn in studios in the U.K., "Comme on a dit" features 13 tracks in Louise Attaque's habitual folk-rock vein. This time round, however, the group's Anglo-Saxon influences have come firmly to the fore. Interestingly enough, "Comme on a dit" was produced by Warren Bruleigh and Gordon Gano (famous for his production work with the Violent Femmes, one of Louise Attaque's main influences). Fans of the group's first album will not be disappointed. Anyone worried that the group might have been changed by their sudden star status can rest assured - the band's opening salvo on the song "Qu'est-ce qui nous tente?" begins "Faut pas s'laisser gagner par l'euphorie/De croire que l'on est un homme important" ("Don't get caught up in sudden euphoria/ And go round believing you're an important man!")

Rougher and more hard-hitting than the group's first album - "Comme on a dit" features an 8-minute electric guitar extravaganza ("Balade de basse") and a good balance of fast, rhythmic tracks and slower more reflective ballads, but otherwise revolves around the group's usual themes - the problem of communication ("Tu dis rien"), the vagaries of love ("Comme on a dit"), solitude and ego problems ("Faut se le dire").

In their usual discreet low-key manner, Louise Attaque are currently on the road promoting their new album. True to Louise Attaque style, the tour kicked off in a series of small, obscure venues affiliated to "Férarock" (the Federation of Associative Rock Radios). But during the tour - which runs until mid-June - the group are set to perform five concerts in Paris at the legendary Olympia. Not bad for an anti-conformist bunch of newcomers!

Louise Attaque Tour Dates: Sète (31 January), Marseilles (2 February and 3 & 4 April), Grenoble (4 February), Macon (6 February), Reims (8 February), Lille (10 February), Ris-Orangis (12 February), Brussels (28 February - 1 March), Geneva (8 & 9 March, Fribourg (11 March), Dijon (20 & 21 March), Clermont-Ferrand (23 & 24 March), St-Etienne (25 March), Lyon (28 & 29 March), Paris at La Cigale (6-8 April), Printemps de Bourges (19 April), Le Mans (20 & 21 April), Lorient (24 April), Rennes (25 & 26 April), Lille (2 & 3 May), Rouen (4 May), Bordeaux (15 & 16 May), Montpellier (18 & 19 May), Toulouse (21 & 22 May), Paris at the Olympia (29 May - 3 June), Angers (6 & 7 June), Strasbourg (12 - 14 June).

Gilles  Rio

Translation : Julie  Street