La Femme - Rock Machine [LP]

After the genre-bending Paradigmes (2021) and the Spanish escapade Teatro Lucido (2022), French neo-psych ensemble La Femme continue their world tour with Rock Machine, their first album entirely written in English. Composed over the past few years during various tours around the world, this new LP has been strongly inspired by the succession of dates in the USA, Canada, South America, Australia, and the encounters that ensued.Led by Marlon Magnée and Sacha Got for more than 10 years, La Femme has created it's own movement, inspired by loads of different music genres including new wave, rock, electro, punk, and more. On Rock Machine, the band returns to the new wave and synthwave roots of their acclaimed first LP Psycho Tropical Berlin ("Machine"), which they mix with an Anglo-Saxon rock sound from the 80s/90s ("Rock"). This album is an ode to rock 'n roll's effectiveness and timelessness, but also an ode to love and despair. With Rock Machine, La Femme continues to develop a universe beyond trends with their own sound and aesthetics. In addition to rock and synthwave sounds (of which lead single "Clover Paradise" is the perfect example), there's still electro ("Sweet Babe"), surf music ("Ciao Paris!"), disco with a UK punk twist ("My Generation"), and even elements of western. "Venus" is a marvelous mix between The Velvet Underground and The Mamas and the Papas, while "Love is Over" sounds like a "Madchester" single from the Hacienda time. The list of influences is long but always unique and coherent.