It's so good to hear more rip-roaring and original-sounding punk throb oozing out of France again, and the brand new Que Du Bonheur LP from Pierre & Bastien out this week at the Sonic Protest live event in Montreuil at Le Chinois will fill that empty spot in your heart (and between your ear holes) with enough thickly-accented gusto and strangulated guitar harmonies to stave off any cravings for bearnaise sauce any time soon. If you were lucky enough to hear and hold dear their debut LP from last year, it won't be hard to convince you of their lust for Wire-wrapped rhythms and those fluid French lyrics laid artfully on top of such slashing guitars and intimidating vocal harmonies, uggh, so good! Straddling the razor's edge of late 70s French thug punk bravado and early 80s post punk into a concise and well-produced modern classic, Que Du Bonheur strikes an icy aloofness right across the board into such impeccably well-written guitar lines, all destined to stick in your head instantly. The vocals can only really be described as excruciatingly refined, deadpan yet defiant and brilliantly brutish, you can try to stave off their allure, but why even put up the effort?
Tough and seductive, and swollen with cuts from all those barbed hooks, this new LP should solidify their legend even further, and you might even be able to get your hands on a copy state-side due to the international prestige of Jacko & Lili Zeller's PollyMaggoo imprint, thankfully. And if you're near Paris this week, be sure not to miss Pierre & Bastien along with No Balls and T.I.T.S. for the LP release show, as well.
Stream the new track "Race" from the new LP right here, and keep an eye out for the new LP from your favorite record stores and mailorder spots:
