The Bird of Music is the second album by Brooklyn indie pop trio Au Revoir Simone. It was released on March 5, 2007, through the Moshi Moshi label.

References

Category:2007 albums

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Artist/Band Information

Au Revoir Simone is an electronic dream pop band from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, formed in late 2003. The group is composed of Erika Forster (vocals/keyboard), Annie Hart (vocals/keyboard) and Heather D'Angelo (vocals/drum machine/keyboard). The band's name comes from a line Pee-Wee Herman says to a minor character (named Simone) in Tim Burton's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

History

Rumor has it that Erika Forster and Annie Hart became friends while traveling by train from Vermont to New York. However, Heather D'Angelo points out on her blog that it is not the case. Another founding member, Sung Bin Park, left the group in January 2005.

In 2006 they did a Take-Away Show video session shot by Vincent Moon. The trio played at both the Treasure Island Music Festival, the Monolith Festival in September 2007 and the Lovebox festival in London, UK in 2009. At the end of 2009 the group hosted their own headlining tour in Japan. In 2007, the band contributed a t-shirt design to raise money for Transportation Alternatives.

The band's debut album was named after a tiny book Annie received entitled 'Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation'. The group felt that the name completely fit their music and the way it made them feel, so they chose it as the album's name.

Musical style

Au Revoir Simone's music has been described as "melody-laden loveliness" by Q Magazine. David Lynch called the group's music "innocent, hip and new." Spin also gave a review of the group: "Powered by vintage keyboards, a lockstep beat-box, and gorgeous, wide-eyed warbling, the Simones create make-out music for your inner android." NME had a lot to say about the indie group: "Au Revoir Simone onstage like the sisters from The Virgin Suicides— looks ranging from prim librarian, to hippy housewife to raven-haired art student. excavates the lost corner, joining Ladytron and Camera Obscura: lush electronic hypno-folk that breezes from the speakers like chocolate melting over one of Latitude's many £5-a-crepe food stalls". In another NME article, the magazine went on to say that "Au Revoir Simone must have beamed in from a land where lace clouds breeze over crystal lakes and icicles grow from the warm earth. This New York three-piece's glorious synth-lead alt-folk will leave you crying on the stairs in the middle of the night." The group defined itself as playing "warm and electronic music with forthright female vocalists."

Musical influences

According to the Web site of the band's European label, the group's musical influences could be "likened to a dutifully mined musical thrift store." Alongside the racks and railings of sometimes mismatched but wholly treasured records occupied by Modest Mouse, Stereolab, the Mountain Goats, Louis Prima, and Pavement, the likes of the Beach Boys, Björk, Broadcast, Belle & Sebastian, David Bowie, the Bee Gees, and Billie Holiday also take their place. Erika Forster harbors a love of German label Morr Music, specifically artists such as Guther, Lali Puna, and Ms. John Soda. Joe Jerome Newman from UK band FILMS lists Au Revoir Simone as being one hell of a heavy-weight influence on their JUMP-FOLK style. FILMS Based the sound of Au Revoir's haunting track 'Stay Golden' on their 2009 hit 'Matilda'.

In popular culture

Au Revoir Simone's songs appear in television programs such as Another Likely Story. One of its songs was featured on the 100th episode of Grey's Anatomy, and, in 2009, Au Revoir Simone's song "The Lucky One" was the closing song in Season 3 Episode 12 of Ugly Betty, as well as the background music for a Cheerios cereal television commercial. In addition, the group performed "Stay Golden," "Sad Song," and "Dark Halls" live at Robert Normand's fashion show in Paris for Fall/Winter 2007. In 2007, the band's song "Sad Song" was featured on the German blockbuster movie Keinohrhasen (English: Rabbits Without Ears). "The Lucky One" and "Don't See The Sorrow" can also be heard in the 2008 Japanese movie "Kimi no Tomodachi" (English: "Your Friends"). "Another Likely Story" was the closing song in Season 1 Episode 10 of Covert Affairs.

Discography

*Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation (Europe: Moshi Moshi Records, North America: Our Secret Record Company, Japan: Rallye Record Label, 2005)

*The Bird of Music (Europe: Moshi Moshi Records, 2007; North America: Our Secret Record Company, 2007; Japan: Rallye Record Label, 2007)

*Still Night, Still Light (North America: Our Secret Record Company, 2009)

References