They're the French synth-poppers in love with 80s fast fashion. This way for some Gallic teen spirit
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Hometown: Rennes, France.
The lineup: Jean-Sylvain Le Gouic, Thibaut Doray.
The background: Juveniles are a French duo releasing songs on Kitsuné, a label that has, historically, been so hip it requires a more hip word than hip to describe it. But they haven't got much to do with Daft Punk, even though French house has been invoked in some of their write-ups. Their music isn't very disco, filter or otherwise. No, it harks back further, to the earliest days of electronic dance music. Well, not the very earliest – we can't detect any of the influence of Pierre Boulez, nor much of John Cage. More than anyone, they sound like British synthpop from 1980-1, before it bisected into white funk and new romantic. Oddly, their forlorn melodies, sad even when they're at their most sprightly, recall OMD, and we say oddly because even the singer's nasal vocals, which are distinctly bunged-up, recall Andy McCluskey with catarrh, and he was from the Wirral.
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Some have suggested they're a cross between New Order and the Smiths, and that would make them Electronic, who they don't really sound like at all, unless you count Some Distant Memory. Rather, they offer random access memories of, as we say, Maid of Orleans and Just Can't Get Enough, Joan of Arc and Leave in Silence. Their latest single, Strangers, gives good melancholy bounce, notwithstanding the entirely superfluous, but not unenjoyable, guitar solo. The song is apparently about comradeship among musicians, which hardly explains the video featuring the fire-breathing toy crocodile (it could be an alligator, we can't verify) wrapped round the woman's crotch.
Other tracks, hopefully available on their summer 2013 debut album, include Hard Working Girl, which has a euphoric rush even as it evokes nostalgia for a music that was itself nostalgic even when it had futurist intent. We Are Young, too, is wistful for an era that was already full of wist. Again, there's a guitar solo. Through the Night has a chorus that overwhelms. Ambitions, with its guitar slashes and speeding synths, is new wave synthpop. And Fantasy is the one with a remote connection to Gallic nu disco, with a verse that manages to be even catchier than the chorus, which says something about Juveniles' confidence, if not their commercial intelligence. Still, the busy, bustling keyboard-heavy mix and sense of restrained flamboyance do at least allow us to praise their use of everything plus the kitsch'n'synth.
The buzz: "Triumphant 80s bombast" – the Quietus.
The truth: And it's the early 80s – acid house revisited this is not.
Most likely to: Be hot this summer.
Least likely to: Be burned at the stake.
What to buy: Strangers is released by Kitsuné.
File next to: New Order, Depeche Mode, OMD, Yazoo.
Links: juvenilesmusic.com.
Thursday's new band: Anne-Marie.
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by Paul Lester via Music: Electronic music | guardian.co.uk
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