Jemima Peterson dives into the weird and wonderful microtonal world of Angine de Poitrine
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If you haven’t yet come across the eccentrically costumed, microtonal math-rocking duo Angine de Poitrine, then I’m impressed: you’ve so far managed to avoid becoming one of the ridiculous number of people, myself included, who somehow now have polka-dot brainrot. It seemed almost overnight that I went from a vague familiarity with their brand to being confronted by them every time I opened my phone.
“they do look and act like some of those slightly disconcerting children’s TV characters”
Their look? One commenter helpfully provided the description ‘I’m happy to see that my childhood imaginary friends are doing well’, under a viral YouTube video of their performance on KEXP radio. Their sound? Another commenter chimed in with ‘Played this to some pigeons outside my house and now they’re flying backwards’. Indeed, they do look and act like some of those slightly disconcerting children’s TV characters: it’s almost as if In the Night Garden has been revived for a new series, with a pair of musical virtuosos being introduced to the garden. They operate anonymously under the names Khn and Klek, on guitar/bass/loops and drums respectively, and hail from Saguenay, Quebec – or their home planet, depending on who you believe.
Their latest release, Vol. II, came out in April. It’s more tightly crafted than the jam-centric unpredictability of their predictably-titled debut Vol. I, this time focused on riffs that ingrain themselves in your brain in a similar way to vocal melodies. However, it’s my initial reluctance to listen to them that I find more interesting than my enjoyment of their music. I’d come across the videos; I’d even googled the band name (it means ‘angina pectoris’, a type of chest pain). Nonetheless, I remained sceptical, until I’d listened without the visual stimuli of Khn’s frenzied fingers on the double-necked guitar/bass, simultaneously controlling the looper pedals with his feet, and Klek’s engagingly robotic drumming made necessary by his costume. I’ve never been one for music videos – the way they build and release tension in their compositions worked much more for me when I was concentrating less on the virtuosity and more on the music itself.
“for some, the Angine de Poitrine brand can be too much, but for others, it can be not quite enough”
Once polka-dot brainrot had inevitably spread throughout my circle, a friend of mine disagreed with me on this point: they felt as though they could enjoy the music when accompanied by two absurdly large papier-mâché heads bobbing along to the beat, but couldn’t listen only to the audio. I needed to prove to myself that Angine de Poitrine are not entirely a gimmick, and this was necessary for me to then enjoy the gimmick; meanwhile, my friend embraced the gimmick from the start and was not inclined to un-gimmick them. Evidently, for some, the Angine de Poitrine brand can be too much, but for others, it can be not quite enough. However, if the footage I’ve seen is any indication, then the duo have achieved the Goldilocks zone in their live shows; the energy of the moshing crowd cancels out any monotony from the gradual layering of looping riffs and then some.
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Feel the (electric) love
‘Eat this, AI’, was the contribution of a third commenter under the KEXP video. The suggestion that Angine de Poitrine are the vanguard in the fight against AI-generated music is one I’ve heard several times now. Reasons presented for this vary – it could be that AI does not have enough data on oddly-structured, microtonal music to present a counterpart, or the fact of Angine de Poitrine being fresh, popular, and most importantly, bizarre. Somehow I doubt that Khn and Klek are troubled by computer-generated music from the safety of their home planet. Even if they do bear it in mind when creating, it’s apparent that their roots go much deeper: the pair have acknowledged many musical debts, amongst which are Frank Zappa and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Backlash against AI music has certainly had a hand in Angine de Poitrine’s explosion of popularity, but I believe that it is aligned mostly with the music’s reception, not its production.
“Would Angine de Poitrine be as popular without the silliness and the anonymity-driven mystique? Most certainly not”
Would Angine de Poitrine be as popular without the silliness and the anonymity-driven mystique? Most certainly not. Even so, I would disagree with anyone who’d argue that this cheapens the music. If a clear brand is all that is required to get everyone jumping around in 5/8 time as directed by two people in glorified (but now very much upgraded and stylised) bedsheets, then I’m all for it.
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