Any band that references dialogue from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure in their name earns major cred in my book, but that is, of course, just a start. Au Revoir Simone is an all-girl synths-and-drum-machine trio from New York with an affinity for ’60s exotica, ’80s synth pop and ’90s electronica which possesses a clear talent for finding the warm heart in the icy pulse of the technology. The Bird of Music, ARS’s full length follow-up to last year’s Verses of Comfort, Assurance and Salvation EP, is an ethereal marvel of textured synths and vocal layers punctuated by the trio’s chopsonic drum programming. Combining the dark swell of Depeche Mode and OMD with the bubbling joy of Stereolab and filtering it through the quirky cool of the Waitresses, Au Revoir Simone can inspire dance floor gyrations, nodding bliss and jaw-dropped awe with nothing more than their three-synth orchestra and the ability to wring warm beauty and cool majesty from it.
--Brian Baker
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