The band, which was compared to Joy Division or even to the Cure cannot be passed by indifferently...
The other good reason for me to start this band exploration is fact that they are coming to my hometown - Łódź (Poland) for this year's Nordland Art Festival (my favorite one ;)) Getting familiar with French Films makes this event expectations even more exciting.
French Films is young band, but attracts a lot of attention already. The group got started in 2010 by putting couple of home demos on their myspace page, which led to largely positive feedback and interest all over the world. The musical style of the band varies between garage, surf rock, post punk and new wave pop.' [1] They bring a breath of fresh air but at the same time there is something oldschool in their style and that combination makes them stand out in a very positive way. Their forthcoming album is called "Imaginary Future" and the release is planned for September, we are looking forward to it!
CONTENTS:
makeshift logo made by me ;)
BAND NAME (etymology)
FORMATION YEAR
GENRE
HOMETOWN
RECORD LABEL
MEMBERS
HISTORY
DISCOGRAPHY
OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEOS
LIVE PERFORMANCES
INTERVIEWS (in English)
(etymology)
This is how Johannes explains the bandname etymology:
'Joni was talking to me about some French film he had just seen. Never mind what the movie was, I just thought that French Films would probably be a good name for a band.' [source]
2010
Indie Rock
Espoo / Järvenpää / Helsinki
GAEA Records
Johannes Leppänen
(guitar, vocals)
Joni Kähkönen
(guitar, vocals)
Mikael Jurmu
(bass, vocals)
Santtu Vainio
(keyboards)
Antti Inkiläinen
(drums)
This is how Johannes describes the story behind forming their band:
'I play with Antti in another band. Mikael used to be the guitarist and lead singer in a band called Yes Please! and we used to play a lot of shows together, so we became friends over time. Joni and I met in a bar where he told me that we should form a band. Me and Mikael had already thought about forming a band together with Antti, so I asked Joni to join. Joni brought Santtu (who had never even played keyboards before) with him.' [source]
EP:
'Golden Sea'(November 2010)
1. Golden Sea 2. Take You With Me 3. Lift Me Up 4. Dropout Jr.
It's high time for something Finnish (to be precise: French/Finnish). The Dø caught my attention by "Slippery Slope" and its music video, which reminds some kind of psychedelic tribal song making listeners fall into pleasant trance. I couldn't stay indifferent, so I started my research. The more I got to know about this band, the bigger my fascination grew.
Everything I found in their music is included in this comprehensive description:
'One thing that really distinguishes them from the major part of indie pop bands spoiling your ears nowadays are their very extensive use of all kinds of instruments, it goes from tribal like drumming to glitch beats and samplers, to violins, via trumpets to synthesizers after bleeps, piano, cello, xylophone and even a contrabass, all guided by Olivia's absolute beautiful high-pitched voice. It's an adorable mixture of more traditional instruments with some tiny electronic elements, vocal harmonies and catchy pop melodies. Really a pretty amazing sound accomplished by, at the end, only two musicians.' source
CONTENTS:
BAND NAME (etymology)
FORMATION YEAR
GENRE
HOMETOWN
RECORD LABEL
MEMBERS
HISTORY
DISCOGRAPHY
OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEOS
LIVE PERFORMANCES
VIDEO INTERVIEWS (in English)
(Etymology)
As Olivia claims there is no big story behind this name. At first I thought it's a finnish word, which means the doe, but then I found this explenation:
'The band's name is pronounced the same as the English word "dough", with a long "o" sound. The band's name is derived from the first note of the solfège scale. It is written with the letter O (slashed o), but it is in no way linked to Olivia's Finnish origins- the slashed o doesn't exist in Finnish alphabet. "D" is also often typed as a lower-case letter, since it looks like a half note that way.' source
2005
Indie Rock
Helsinki / Paris
Get Down! / Cinq7 Wagram
Olivia Bouyssou Merilahti (vocals)
Dan Levy (multi-instruments)
Olivia Bouyssou Merilahti and Dan Levy met in 2005 while recording the music for a French movie Empire of the Wolves directed by Chris Nahon and produced by Gaumont. They released their first piece under the name The Dø a few months later. They kept on working for cinema (The Passenger, awarded at the Festival d'Angers and the Festival d'Aubagne, Wild Camp, and Darling), dance (Prologue, Perle and Cinderella by Juha-Pekka Marsalo, as well as poetry lectures by Carolyn Carlson) and theatre (Laure by Colette Peignot).
They used their free time to write the songs that would feature on their first album, A Mouthful. The band's myspace page was opened in 2007. The first four songs released online (The Bridge is Broken, At Last, On My Shoulders and Playground Hustle) quickly created a buzz that brought them to play a series of sold-out concerts in Paris. In December 2007, they opened the festival Les Transmusicales de Rennes. Meanwhile, they signed on the indie label Cinq/7, and the song On My Shoulders was their first single, also used in an Oxford-notepads commercial.
A Mouthful was released in France in January 2008. The rest of Europe and Australia released it later that year . It was very well received by critics and the public, ranking n°1 in the French charts on the first week.
The band went on tour in Europe and Australia for over 200 shows. They spent summer 2008 playing at most of the biggest festivals in Europe (Eurockéennes de Belfort, Paleo, Provinssirock, Vieilles Charrues, Roskilde, Main Square Festival, Pukkelpop...), flew to Australia for the V Festival in spring 2009, and spent two weeks in America, playing from Mexico to Canada, NYC to Los Angeles, in September 2009. A Mouthful was officially released in the US in April 2010 on Six Degrees Records, including 3 bonus tracks.
In December 2010, the band released a video for the first promotional single 'Dust It Off'. Their second album - 'Both Ways Open Jaws' - was released in some parts of Europe on Monday, March 7, 2011, and in France on Wednesday, March 9, 2011. source
Albums:
'Empire of the Wolves'/ soundtrack (2005)
3. Passage brady(movie version) - Olivia Bouyssou
4. Bloody entertainer - Olivia Bouyssou
5. La vengeance d'anna - Dan Levy
6. Wolves - Olivia Bouyssou
7. Hollow of your shoulder - Olivia Bouyssou
8. Black dove - Olivia Bouyssou
10. Java - Olivia Bouyssou
11. Woolen silence - Olivia Bouyssou
12. Columbarium - Dan Levy
14. Fuite ackermann - Dan Levy
17. Requiem - Dan Levy
19. Poursuite metro - Olivia Bouyssou
21. Arrivee en turquie - Dan Levy
22. Colline d'azer - Dan Levy
23. China doll(remix) - Olivia Bouyssou
26. China doll - Olivia Bouyssou
'A Mouthful' (2008)
1. Playground Hustle 2. At Last 3. On My Shoulders 4. Song for Lovers 5. The bridge is Broken 6. Stay (Just A Little Bit More) 7. Unissasi Laulelet 8. Tammie 9. Queen Dot Kong 10.Coda 11.Searching Gold 12.When was I Last Home 13.Travel Light 14.Aha 15.In My Box
'A Mouthful' [U.S. Release] (2010)
'Both Ways Open Jaws'(2011)
1. Dust It Off
2. Gonna Be Sick!
3. The Wicked & The Blind
4. Too Insistent
5. Bohemian Dances
6. Smash Them All (Night Visitors)
7. Leo Leo
8. B.W.O.J
9. Slippery Slope
10. The Calendar
11. Was It A Dream?
12. Quake, Mountain, Quake
13. Moon Mermaids
14. Open C (Bonus)
15. No Clue (Bonus)
