Nice and dreamy

>> Au Revoir Simone respond to leering
critics, communicate telepathically and
latch on to David Lynch

REAL SURREAL: Au Revoir Simone

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

“We just started this band to play music and have fun together,” says Annie Hart. “Erika [Forster] and I were playing in different bands, Heather [D’Angelo] had never played in a band before and we were just hanging out at Erika’s apartment drinking tea and playing keyboards, and all of a sudden, things started growing and growing. We’re really excited that all our hard work is paying off.”

They’re sometimes mistaken for a French band, and audiences in France can’t get enough of them, but Au Revoir Simone are Brooklyn gals. Their debut album, Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation, was championed by bloggers and the trio was swiftly signed by Japanese and British labels, allowing them to tour extensively abroad. Only now, in support of their second album, The Bird of Music, are they embarking on a headlining tour of North America, so it’s not surprising that they seem like foreigners to some. And being an all-singing, all-keyboard-playing band, devoid of guitars or ironic electro vocals, makes them stand out all the more.

As do their looks, apparently, based on some of the lecherous musings of male music journalists, presumably attracted by Au Revoir Simone’s more traditionally feminine style, one that’s less threatening than your average rock chick or oversexed teenage pop singer—“I wanna bone Au Revoir Simone” was the title of an article in Vice, but even relatively tasteful publications are getting their briefs in a bunch. And female writers are falling into a tiresome trap too, making resentful assumptions based on the band’s occasional appearances in fashion magazines. But long hair, dresses and dreamy melodies set to the pitter-patter of little beats do not lightweights make…

Mirror: I sense frustration on your part about the way some journalists seem to place your appearance ahead of your music.

Annie Hart: Oh yeah. About six months ago, that was what people were really focusing on, but luckily the questions are changing, the focus is shifting. There were some negative reviews of our record that said, “These three girls have long brown hair and they all look like clones”—they’ll bash us without saying anything about the music.

I’m a pretty big feminist, and even though a lot of people will judge us based on our appearance and our gender, the fact that we’re in control of the music and we own our record label [Our Secret Record Co.], it’s like, yeah, you might see us as these fashion plates, but we’re also really—not to toot my own horn—we’re all smart women who are in control of everything that we’re doing, we’re all educated, we’re all really on the ball and we’re all friendly. I think that speaks for itself.

Ladies in the radiator

M: I understand that you played during a book reading by David Lynch in New York, and more recently at his museum exhibit in Paris. How did that go?

AH: Oh, that was so cool! He had two artists play, it was Julee Cruise the first night and then us the second night, and it was really neat, they had us on a stage that was a reproduction of a set on Eraserhead. It was a really surreal experience with David in the front row, and he said it was surreal for him to watch us on one of his sets. We really hit if off with him, he’s just constantly telling people about us and that has helped us so much. To have somebody like that believe in you is just so great for an indie band because we don’t have money to buy ads, we don’t have money to embark on a huge radio campaign. We rely on word of mouth, and having a mouth like that is just fantastic.

M: On a related note, I hear that Heather came up with one of your songs in a dream. Does this happen often?

AH: More than you think. Thank goodness she captured it. What usually happens is, one of us will dream of the greatest song ever and then we’ll wake up and be like, “How did that go again?” and it’s lost forever.

M: How about telepathic communication during rehearsals? I assume that’s an intuitive thing, like finishing each other’s sentences.

AH: Yeah, definitely. There are moments where we’re frustrated with each other and ourselves, when what we’re playing isn’t what we have in our heads, but most of the time we’re just all drifting in the same direction and it sounds so beautiful to us. It’s just so fun and fulfilling, and that’s what’s really kept us together, the fact that we can communicate on that level and make each other so happy through music. It’s really amazing.

With Oh No! Oh My! and the Winks
at la Sala Rossa on Tuesday,
Aug. 14, 9 p.m., $12