EUX AUTRES
Hell is Eux Autres
Grenadine
· A brother-sister duo with a difference.
At first, on paper, Eux Autres sound a bit too "been there, done that" for comfort. The brother-sister team of Nicholas and Heather falls close to the Jack and Meg White (Stripes) band construction of lad on guitar, girl on drums, while their en francais odes to their little dog ("Ecoutez Bien" begins with the twee shout-out "Pamplemousse! / Petit chien!") call to mind the inside jokes of The Fiery Furnaces’ Friedberger siblings.
Produced in part by Sleater-Kinney’s Janet Weiss (herself no stranger to life as a two-piece in the brilliant Quasi), Hell is Eux Autres overcomes those similarities with pop savvy and ’60s Euro-minded esthetics so catchy it almost hurts. The handclaps and backing "yeahs!" of "The Sundance Kid" carry the type of pop song perfectly suited to spinning out from a crusty garage sale 45. Rather than falling into the trappings of their own mystique (like the White Stripes did on Get Behind Me Satan), Eux Autres come off as the cool weird kids down the block who you’ve always wanted to hang out with.
Sure, Heather’s not the greatest vocalist in the world, but neither was Jane Birkin. The important factor in both cases is style, and Eux Autres has got it in spades.
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