It’s raining again. Cannes is half flooded and the crowd in Morrisons is consequently thinner than it might be. I’ve come for Les Jupes but find another band onstage when I get there. Then, there’s the now familiar wait as the changover drags and drags
As the band take the stage I see that I’ve spotted them earlier loading gear out of a taxi. The tiny stage plays host to the house kit, two keyboards, a bass and a guitar and as the band take the stage I realise that I’ve been blindsided. I’m expecting cool, I’m expecting a certain degree of stylisation and I’ve assumed the edgy looking bass player with the on-trend glasses and hair is the lead singer. He’s not.
The first song start with a clinically executed drum pattern from one of the tightest drummers you’ll hear and then the blocky guy stage left, the guy you could imagine playing a New York cop in a David Lynch movie reveals himself to be Mike Falk, core writer and lead singer of Les Jupes. I’ve read about his powerful baritone, it still doesn’t prepare me for it. It instantly calls to mind – not quite Ian Curtis – but New Order’s Ceremony, their hastily put together momento mori for their dead leader. The song’s queasy keyboard riffs tug back and forth at the vocal in an exemplar of how to unsettle and emote at the same time. Over the course of the next few songs David Schellenberg weaves back and forth between keyboard and bass while Mike Falk’s vocals become increasingly hypnotic.
The band are touring on the back of the European release of their ‘Modern Myths’ album and the set features both that albums ‘myth’ songs – Myth #3 (the Mountain) ansd Myth #7 (Honour) with which they close in a wonderfully realised pocket-tornado of harmonies with both David Schellenberg and Kelly Beaton really singing for the first time in the set.
Somewhere along the way they have insinuated a few as yet unreleased tracks into the set and here’s the truth – these songs are among the strongest they’ve played tonight.
Really, it’s over much to soon. It’s a festival set, a little taster that hints at a broader palate and I’m hungry for more.
