From the city of Toulouse in France comes the duo Le Common Diamond. Thomas Juvé and Floran Remy make, well, without sounding so obvious, they make French pop music – and it’s everything you could possibly want from such an association (the moodiness of Air, the sexuality of Sébastien Tellier). Yet some of the influences the band lists are MGMT and LCD Soundsystem, which also definitely translate and I think this cross-pollination of a beloved formula with their own influences creates substantial pop music that is anything but expected or typical.
The backs of two nude women, one on a white horse in some psychedelically color-corrected woods, greet you on their homepage. Frankly, this is pretty apt for the sound of the band itself: hazy synths, experimental, bright spots of color, sexy, but slightly sinister. The thing about Le Common Diamond is it doesn’t veer into the pitfalls of monotony that the electronic genre can produce. It’s smart, sophisticated with a dead pan vocal delivery, the occasional falsetto, isolated electro beats that is in some ways very calculated but manages to not seem contrived. Juvé and Remy cleverly weave different elements into a single seemingly innocuous four minute number and while the elements themselves are pretty minimalist, the result is anything but. It can almost seem too much at some points, but the individual sounds are so subtle that having so many only makes the song more interesting to keep listening to.
It’s nice listening to older older tracks like “Go Faster” because I can already see the duo has grown and are veering toward a slightly different direction from the jagged guitar licks of the former tracks lead. The latest material on the 7″ recently released features the tracks “Popnography” and “Orbit The Earth” and is far spacier, as the group themselves dubbed. I think a full length release from Le Common Diamond would certainly be something to look forward to. I can already see myself getting lost in its soundscapes and I haven’t even heard it yet.
Below stream two songs from their first 7″ or just buy ‘em off their website - it’s only a buck!
Connect with Le Common Diamond – Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud
