Au Revoir Simone say Bonjour to Beijing
“I love Au Revoir Simone, these girls have what it takes. Music just flows out of them so naturally, and it’s great music.”
- David Lynch
Dreamy, sweet, hip and relaxing - it's the kind of sound you'd like to hear after waking up in the morning, or during a traffic jam (quite practical for a Beijinger). With vintage keyboards rescued from garage sales and a wooden drum machine inherited from a movie set, Heather D’Angelo, Erika Forster and Annie Hart founded Au Revoir Simone and started practice at Erika’s apartment in 2003. Their shared love of keyboards – Erika and Heather have both been playing piano since their childhoods – has led to their easy-listening electro-pop populated by experimental characters.
Since everyone in the band plays the same instrument, the challenge lies in collectively writing songs without making any individual feel left out. The three Brooklynites work together to finish songs, even if one person comes up with the initial idea. “That’s one of the best things about being in Au Revoir Simone!” says Heather. “There is no leader, just the group.”
Luckily, their Brooklyn neighborhood has proven a receptive environment for their creative minds. "Living among a community of other artists and musicians made it seem normal to start a band and focus more on that than having a more typical job," Heather explains. "It's a little intimidating to embark on a creative career because it isn’t easy or predictable. But if you have faith in your own ideas and the courage to see them through, the results can be very rewarding."
Music Video of "Sad Song"
The band started off playing shows in bars and clubs in Manhattan, but it wasn’t all singing-in-the-park from day one - Heather says the worst place they ever played was inside a cage. “It was in the middle of a roller-skating rink. Even now just talking about it makes it seem more like a nightmare than an actual show,” she says. “In the beginning we used to play anywhere that wanted us to play, but since we’ve had some success we don’t play those places anymore. Now we play nice places!”
Au Revoir Siome had their first international appearance in Iceland playing in front of 600 people. “It was all very exciting,” Erika recalls. “The best part of being on tour is having the opportunity to play music and become a better musician by learning from new people. So far we have seen so much of the world and I feel like a different person than when we started the band.”
With the release of third album Still Night, Still Light, the trio will tour China to share their stylish art-folk gloriousness with Beijing and Shanghai. The girls played in Hong Kong last year for Agnes B, yet Erika had her own encounter with the vast land back in 2005: she traveled China as an assistant to two photographers working for an American magazine. “We spent only one day in Beijing, and the rest of the time we traveled in Shanxi Province to Datong, Pingyao, and visited Wutai Mountain and Yungang caves,” she says. “It was a really amazing trip. We woke up every morning at dawn and took pictures of so many special places."
Having achieved commercial success, Au Revoir Simone have also gained critical acclaim. On January 11 2007, they were invited by director David Lynch to join his “Upstairs at the Square: Writers and Musicians on Stage” session at Barnes & Noble Union Square in New York. While Lynch read from his book Catching the Big Fish, the keyboard beauties played songs from their second studio album The Bird of Music in the background.
Au Revoir Simone play while David Lynch reads
For all their cool cred, the girls retain their smooth and independent attitude - not only in their approach to making music, but also in their attitude towards the market. “We have our own label and have been able to independently fund our recordings,” explains Erika. “But I don't think that makes us better or worse than any other band or business model.” Yet for Annie, being an indie musician means “taking matters into your own hands to get whatever needs to be done to accomplish your artistic vision” - which is probably why she’s still got a newcomers’ perspective after six years of Au Revoir Simone. “So far I still can't believe anyone wants to hear anything I've created,” she says. “So anything that happens along the way is appreciated and taken as a life experience.”
If only we could all be that positive.
Listen to Au Revoir Simone at www.myspace.com/aurevoirsimone
Au Revoir Simone plays Yugong Yishan on November 20 (Friday), supported by local talent Chanchan. RMB 150, RMB 100 (advance). Door opens at 8pm. 3-2 Zhangzizhong Lu (100m west of Zhangzizhong Lu subway station), Dongcheng District (6404 2711). 东城区平安大道张自忠路3-2号(地铁五号线张自忠路站往西100米)
