With its gaze fixed firmly on the dancefloor, “À la rencontre de Barbara” is alive with slinky basslines, louche vocal hooks, and starry nocturnal grooves. A guest vocal boost comes courtesy of Standard Emmanuel, perhaps best known as the frontman of the Montreal band Choses Sauvages.
“À la rencontre de Barbara”, which translates simply as “Meet Barbara”, the track introduces us to the central protagonist who struts from song-to-song across their conceptual new album. Placing the listener into her fine-heeled shoes, we follow a late night disco diva in pursuit of her next dance, and stepping to a beat of her own defining. As Le Couleur explain:
“In the heart of a glittering metropolis, a pair of shoes triggers an enigmatic quest for an elusive figure. Guided by urban lights, a traveller explores a nocturnal stroll, awakening lost memories and forgotten dreams. As secrets converge, Barbara’s mysterious story unfolds, captivating the viewer between reality and illusion.”
The new single is aptly illustrated with a plush AI generated official video orchestrated by Nathan Nardin and his team at NNS.
“À la rencontre de Barbara” follows previous 2023 single “Sentiments nouveaux”, with both tracks due to feature on Le Couleurs upcoming album ‘Comme dans un penthouse’, which will be released worldwide on 22 September via Lisbon Lux Records.
A concept album that revives a prominent character from Le Couleur’s past, ‘Comme dans un penthouse’, finds the Montreal trio proving their prowess in the spheres of alt-pop, lounge, and disco as they tell the ballad of ‘Barbara’. First introduced as the assistant who stole her former employer’s fortune on Le Couleur’s 2016 album ‘P.O.P.’, the new record sees her return for a starring role…
After coming back from Le Couleur’s most recent U.K. tour last year, vocalist Laurence Giroux-Do found herself suddenly drawn to the character of Barbara anew. Feeling that her own life was “flat, beige, and pointless” and that she was developing a “fear of falling into a routine”, Giroux-Do began seeing Barbara’s “search for novelty, new feelings, an addiction” as the polar opposite of the malaise she was experiencing.
Channelling these notions into the leading lady at the heart of Le Couleur’s new album, ‘Comme dans un penthouse’ finds the band living vicariously through Barbara, a character on a constant quest for the excitement and adrenaline of new things and new feelings (“Sentiments nouveaux”). Taking the listener on a thrilling narrative arc that plays out like a Greek tragedy, Barbara’s endless thrill-seeking is also what leads to her downfall as she walks a tightrope between hedonistic highs and crushing lows. It’s drugs, sex, love, but also money and glam à la American Psycho and Crash.
Perfectly pairing Barbara’s story with a filmic score, ‘Comme dans un penthouse’ is matched with a vibe that is luxurious and glossy, yet sinister and seductive throughout. From the opener and lead single “Autobahn” in which Giroux-Do sings “We will be pornographers of a crash / Autobahn / Always on the way to the mountains”, the band flit bilingually between English and French, between genres like Italo disco and darker electronica. As they bring Barbara’s gripping tale to life, mood and message are always inseparable.
Le Couleur – AKA Laurence Giroux-Do (vocals), Patrick Gosselin (bass), and Steeven Chouinard (drums) – worked on each of these tracks for exactly one week, with Chouinard also leading production. The group started with each song’s instrumental, then added arrangements, melodies and lyrics, and, finally, recorded vocals. With additional musicianship from Shaun Pouliot (electric guitar), Virginie Bédard (vocals), Félix Paul (synths); later mixing was provided by Pascal Shefteshy and final mastering by Richard Addison.
With its razor-sharp artistic direction, laser-focused approach and exhilarating narrative, ‘Comme dans un penthouse’ arrives as the French pop band’s most consistent and captivating release yet.
‘Comme dans un penthouse’ by Le Couleur will be available in vinyl and digital versions, pre-order from 18 August via Bandcamp + Apple. It is released everywhere on 22 September.
