I pass an empty venue, it’s early. L’Amalgame is in the outskirts of Yverdon-Les-Bains, a laketown of French Switzerland, a small van with Spanish plates stands out on the parking lot. A vehicle that I imagine belongs to the Drab Majesty team. Then I walk around and find a place to crash for a while. The municipal stadium is standing right there in front of me on an industrial estate, a well-decorated bar open on weekdays when there’s no match, serving Spritz and the like, is a nice place to rest for a bit before a gig that I was expecting for days and weeks.
I’m killing time, reading the French current affairs of the world monthly « Le Monde Diplomatique » for long minutes in the semi-dark room, my table-mate working on something serious, I can’t see what she does and I’m having a bit of trouble getting a smile out of her. The night is full of promises of friendship and surprises. Further on, Yverdon Sport people, at least some of its representatives, are chatting away – after all, we’re in the clubhouse of the team promoted to the Swiss top league, this thing is serious, there’s a bit of money and soft power involved.
I understand they’re talking about Italian calico soccer and prospects that could be transferred to Yverdon. But since YS was sold to an American shareholder, the talent waltz has begun, the back to school era with the new coach recruited is far gone. The coach didn’t make the cut, despite satisfactory results, and the new owners showed him the door, not a way to treat people I thought to myself. So I’ve decided to leave, I don’t like the laws of this soccer business after all, the mercato-friendly agents paid on special bonuses of all sorts, trading on players’ thighs. I like street and park soccer, playgrounds with children and the World Cup when there aren’t 48 clubs and 2,000 victims to build stadiums in the heat and for a maximum of one month’s use. Let’s talk about music, indie music with Drab Majesty, the joy of my day, the epitomy of my Halloween day.
Back at the Amalgam, I pass a circus school, a dance school, a refectory and a meeting room for associations, this corner is full of activity. At 8:30 p.m., Plague Pits hits the stage. Their electropop has nothing to envy their English cousins New Order or Depeche Mode, they perform and they perform well. The duo’s mix of vocals and machines, keyboards and effects pedals is a success. The crowd responds, and it’s more than just a warm-up. The merchandiser for Drab Majesty, sits behind his desk, he is French and accompanies Drab Majesty wherever the band goes in Europe, and their small business is doing well according to his words.
A « European dark-wave and dream pop band » in the guise of two Americans, Drab Majesty has found its place just about everywhere on the continent, notably in the land of Young Gods and Grauzone, Switzerland. Drab Majesty appeals to those who have experienced new wave, neo-romanticism and shogaze… and many other sub-genres, the music mix is open and relates to band like The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Slowdive and many goth-rock bands form the indie scene in the US and the UK circa 80’s and 90’s. There are dozens of examples of the power of electro in the service of emotion and melody nowadays, calling the souls of old creators from 30 years ago. And Drab Majesty is the best example of that synthesis of the two eras. The concert is dense, an escape of every moment, the transitions are clean, the communication minimal with the Yverdonnois, but who cares, words are useless in a dreamy haze, it’s just distraction or nuisance. Singing with guitar or loop machines speak for itself and I personally love the way the LA based duo is pushing forward its melodic vocal and instrumentals layers.
For a first evening at the Amalgame, a stone’s throw from Yverdon-les-Bains’ freshly restored soccer stadium, the Amalgam is a temple of love and passion, a fireworks of sounds and lights. Coincidentally, the 1st of November fixture, with its twilight atmosphere, couldn’t be more fitting for the Californian band. Deb Demure, the character played by guitarist Andrew Clinco, is a sort of futuristic alter ego in gold make-up and unlikely sunglasses. A cool, classy accompaniment to the electro strings produced by Alex Nicolau – aka Mona D. The band introduces each of its tracks with a layer of sound effects and chords on a kind of repetitive tip, the supporting band Plague Pits pushed the volume up with its alternative electro-pop to the limit, Deb Demure and Mona D are going even further playing down melodies that sometimes summon the ghosts of ancient synth pop Gods while printing a very peculiar brand on people’s ears, thanks to set of guitar pedals and special effect devices for the keyboards, a technological achievement.
Deb Demure nods gently. He looks great and puts on a surprisingly reassuring show, like a Velvet Underground figure in the bakcground (John Cale comes to mind). If former members of the goth-rock galaxy Sisters of Mercy or The Cult have recently performed here (l’Usine de Genève for the former and Les Docks for the latter), Drab Majesty’s first appearance on the Yverdon night was a real good surprise. It was impossible to feel closer to the band, with its frank references to greats like Genesis P.Orridge, once seen for my part in the middle of a long Breton night with Suicide and Can at the Transmusicales in Rennes the 2000’s. Knowing that Deb Demure quote avant-garde British artist who passed away a few years ago made me realize that Drab Majesty had a coherent element in its cultural baggage. The band also embodies a new version of shogazing, more theatrical, more futuristic and colourful. On « Vanity », one of the latest productions of Drab Majesty, Slowdive’s powerful vocalist Rachel Goswell is invited, the duet works well. The illuminated acoustic arpeggio of the song « Vanity » creates a signature sound, somewhere between a kind of orchestral dream pop metal and dark synth pop, the Californians’ life on the Dais label is a kind of rock n’roll circus in the best taste, with optional kabuki theater and flashy make-up. Sadly, that receipe can’t be reproduced live, but who cares, every Drab Majesty song is a song that is worth the listen. Sadly, the band did not play « Out of Sequence » but that is just a personal favourite and the setlist is rich enough to satisfy hungry music-aficionados like I am.
« Dot in the sky » introduced the show, with its confident, serene and airy new wave. Then came « Oxytocin » with its pared-down programming, the expression of a love story rediscovered, the contrast with the days of difficulty and suffering translated in music, fancy ! The intros to each track are like launchpads, suspended in a succession of layers of reverb and effects that add dimension to Drab Majesty’s live show. « The Skin and the Glove » on the album « A Skin in Motion » sounds like a track from Ride’s Creation Records era with a song like « Drive Blind ». We’re in a cloud of indie bliss, propelled back into the late 80s. There’s a real shoegaze feel, with the advantage of today’s tools to make the whole thing fuller, more modern, a kind of alliance with the machines of 40 years ago and all the processors and compressors that give Drab Majesty’s music an extra dimension. We could also see that technological/electric guitars/synths mix In Remi Parson’s quest, both Drab Majesty and their Toulouse counterpart are on the look out for the perfect melody. « Ellipsis » is played and takes the audience into a light trance, the quintessential indie pop melodic hammer is hitting our hearts, the song is an ear worm that never goes away, Drab Majesty, it is the Beatles for five minutes in that epic song from the album « Modern Mirror ».
Then the trance is becoming bigger and bigger, the audience is into Drab Majesty, the sound is loud, the Amalagam knows how to create an experience. Their sense of welcoming, so typical of the Swiss venues. The volunteers are very attentive, one of them gave me a token for a free drink. I had met the lady at the entrance of the hall. It is my first time in the venue while I was putting my brand ew Drab Majesty long sleeves shirt outside the premises. Well done to the team, really nice to see a gig at the Amalgam.
Back to the music, « 39 by design » is a mid-tempo ballad that gets you back on track after a trip high in the clouds. But it lacks that depth and presence, the sound of the tune being too easily shaped by the machine, it lacks a little extra soul. This is not the case with « Kissing the ground », a beautiful finale, with ancient sensations and dimensions, telluric force from the sound elixir, spiralling elements of nature evoked in the interstices of the song, a real closeness with the spirit of some songs of The Sisters of Mercy’s catalog (I am thinking of « Marian »). One last song that struck a chord in me with the gimmick « Don’t you wonder how it could be? too soon, to tell », a real pop song, Drab Majesty is not the Beatles after all, it has its own sense of writing songs that are built to last. We would listen to them forever.
Merci ä Fanny Blanc et toute l’équipe de l’Amalgame
Suississimo 