Au Revoir Simone performs in the Soundcheck studio.

Au Revoir Simone: Woozy Synths And Fizzy Pop Hooks

Soundcheck | Jul 3, 2014

In pop, four years is a long time to wait for a new album. Microgenres and trends come and go with such speed that a beguilingly understated band like Au Revoir Simone might get lost in the sea of electronic-minded acts that have burst forth since its last album -- 2009's Still Night, Still Light. So when the Brooklyn trio -- Erika Forster, Annie Hart, and Heather D'Angelo -- returned last September with Move In Spectrums, it was both a reintroduction to Au Revoir Simone's core sound -- fragile vocal melodies, woozy synths, and dusty drum machine beats -- and a re-imagining, firmly stepping toward fizzy pop songcraft.

Au Revoir Simone is still a band capable of exploring its emotions, and tiny observations about isolation, love and relationships, transporting you with lines that reveal so much in so little said. "We both know you've been looking around / Don't tell me why, don't tell me why, I know," they sing in the spacious, melancholic "We Both Know." But with the glittery '80s electro-pop ("Somebody Who") and bouncy neon-colored hooks ("Crazy"), and stuttering dance beats ("Gravitron"), Move In Spectrums doesn't wallow too long in the sadness. Full of depth, mystery and allure, but also, well, fun, Au Revoir Simone has crafted its finest work yet.