by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“People refuse what they don’t understand,” says singer Philippe Lomprez. He’s referring to the chilly reception that he and his brother Herve received when they emerged on the French music scene in 1981 as Trisomie 21. A triplication, or trisomy, of the 21st chromosome is the cause of Down syndrome, a condition that neither brother is afflicted with. Their moniker was initially perceived as a distasteful punk-rock shock tactic, but Lomprez says it was quite the opposite.

“Some specialists thought that if [people with Down’s] were musicians, they would probably create a new vision of music, and we like this idea. It’s exactly what we wanted to do.”

The Lomprez brothers—to be joined on stage by sound engineer Martin Blohorn, guitarist Francois Pavan and VJ Jim Boquet—have built a career and an international cult following on merging rock and synthpop, toying with dark, striking sounds and images. Anyone who’s frequented goth or new wave clubs has probably danced to their mid-’80s hits “The Last Song” and “La Fête Triste.”

Lomprez has fond memories of the duo’s show at Foufs in ’86, but with their return to Montreal next week comes a wealth of new material, and a project involving local electro band Alice & the Serial Numbers and DJs Maüs and Mini. They remixed songs from Trisomie 21’s 2004 LP, Happy Mystery Child, for the recently released Woman Is a Mix EP, a ladies-only extension of 2004’s (unisex) Man Is a Mix, featuring the likes of the Hacker, the Horrorist and X-Statik.

“It’s our dream team,” says Lomprez. “The project is a link between the electro underground and us, and this dark electro reminds us of the spirit of our beginning in 1981.”

That spirit remains in Trisomie 21’s cleaner, more succinct sound, crossing electro with the sinister ambience of acts like Current 93. Though it could easily be mistaken for ’80s music, the duo’s recent material shows an evolution from their searing goth-rock roots.

“Each album explores a new face of our universe. The world is changing, technology is changing, so we must change too.”

With DJs Maüs, DJ Mini and Alice & the Serial Numbers at Club Soda on Wednesday, March 8, 8 p.m., $20

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