Armin

Maybe it’s the advent of the internet that’s made the idea of a “collective” so popular as opposed to a band. Now that the world is a far smaller place than it was before it’s a lot easier to directly make contact with artists whose work one admires and also keep in contact with people who one might lose touch with otherwise. All this makes the prospect of an artist or group of artists creating work with a variety of separate collaborators who they may or may not work with again a far more workable possibility than it’s ever been before.

However, in the form of La Femme we have a band that combines the concepts of the band and the collective in a thoroughly modern twist on the traditional rock band. The band writes most of the music themselves, before collaborating with anyone who complements the sound of the song in order to complete it. Not only are they trailblazers in that respect, but they set a very high standard for anyone who wants to take after them.

La Femme began with a collaboration between guitarist Sacha Got and keyboardist Marlon Magnée. The pair met in high school where they became firm friends, and were soon making music together armed with only a guitar and Garageband. The duo would only become a band when Magnée left Biarritz for Paris, where he met the bands rhythm section, Sam Lefevre (bass guitar) and their future drummer Noah Delmas. Once Got joined the trio in Paris, they named themselves La Femme and began searching for a lead singer. They stumbled upon Clémence Quélennec short while later and with their first full line up completed, began gigging around France.

Since then they’ve released three E.Ps and one studio album, titled “Psycho Tropical Berlin”, that came out in 2013. They’ve become sensations in their home land, earning the 2014 Victoires de la Musique award for best album by a new artist and they’ve made a name for themselves the world over as well, being covered in the likes of NME Magazine and on Pitchfork.com. Overall, they’re a band whose musical style reflects their creative dynamic, a mix of retro cool and futurist edginess. They’re going to be a very big name soon, and we should all join them for the ride. Highly recommended.