Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains: La Vérité

A video has emerged for the song La Vérité by France's favourite indie rockers Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains.

The song's already been around for a few weeks as an audio track, and it's great to see it getting a video that it deserves.

It takes things up a notch in terms of production values and style, but without losing the charm makes Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains the kind of band they are.

The video was directed by Mathieu Demy, who as well as being an actor of note, directed the film Americano on 2011.

he has appeared in films from a young age, unsurprising given he is the son of Agnès Varda and Jacques Demy, but established himself with a role in 1997 French Aids musical Jeanne et le Garçon formidable.

The track comes from the forthcoming Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains album Piano Ombre, which comes out on March 17  La Vérité will be released on the same day as a single.

Francois and the Atlas Mountains: Piano Ombre

More details have emerged of the forthcoming new album by Francois and the Atlas Mountains.

The album, which is to be titled Piano Ombre, has ten tracks: Bois, La Vérité, The Way to the forest, La fille aux cheveux de soie, Summer of the heart, La vie dure, Réveil inconnu, Piano ombre, Fancy foresight and Bien sûr.

It is the first Francois album to have been recorded at a proper studio and with a producer.

The album will be available as CD and vinyl, and a limited edition vinyl will include a 7' of the tracks of Sleepwalkers Town and Bus Rouge.

While the marketing campaign might not be as high profile as the one surounding the Daft Punk release last year, the album's every bit as anticipated in some quarters.

The last release by  Francois and the Atlas Mountains caused many to realise that France produced acts as innovative as anything produced across the channel or elsewhere.

Piano Ombre is released on March 17, and  La Vérité will be released on the same day as a single.

Francois and The Atlas Mountains: New album announced

A new album's been announced by the UK's favourite French indie band, Frànçois and The Atlas Mountains, to be released in April 2014.

The release comes three years after E Volo Love came out, the album that secured the band in the ears and hearts of British listeners.

Since then they've played live extensively, and more recently their earlier album Plaine Inondable was released by Domino records, their current label.

Last year Frànçois released a cover of the Etienne Daho track Le Grand Sommeil.

Frànçois and The Atlas Mountain begin a tour at the end of March, with shows in London, Bristonl, Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester in the UK. They also play in Paris and elsewehere in France, along with a show in Germany.

They're also due to play at the Arènes de Nîmes in July.

A teaser video has been released, and while it doesn't say much, it can only be a short time until more details emerge.

Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains: Edge of Town

A new video from the UK's favourite French indie act Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains.

The single Edge of Town is another track from their breakthrough 2011 album for Domino records E Volo Love, and it sis hard to imagine a more perfect relaxed end-of-summer soundtrack.

The African feel gives it a nice feelgood bounce, perfect for this time of year.

They've got a few festival dates in August and September, and a few shows in mainland europe in September and October including one at La Cigale in Paris on October 18, before a tour of the UK at the end of October, with dates in Scotland, Northern Ireland and in Dublin.

Frànçois and The Atlas Mountains: City Kiss

As the UK bakes in the hottest March weather I can remember, a video that brings back the winter that seems to last forever.

Frànçois and The Atlas Mountains, the UK's favourite French indie band, have digitally released a third single - City Kiss - from last year's E Volo Love album, along with a new video.

The album was arguably the biggest breakthrough French release in the UK and they have charmed a significant following since the release of their album on Domino.

They have a large number of dates in France over the coming months, and the band have also confirmed some UK shows next month along with some festival appearances over the summer.

Apr 14: St Andrews - Eye O' the Dug Festival
Apr 16: Leeds - Brudenell Social Club
Apr 18: London - Cargo
May 09: Cardiff - Clwb Ifor Bach
May 10-12: May: Brighton - The Great Escape
Jun 02: Long Division Festival
Jun 10: Rough Beats Festival
Aug 17-19: Summer Sunday Festival
Aug 31-Sep 2: End Of The Road Festival

Charlotte Gainsbourg: Mémoir

Charlotte Gainsbourg's song Mémoire has been attracting some much-deserved attention now that it has been made available as a download.

To these ears it's very reminiscent of Jane Birkin's work, easy on the ear and jazzy but with a dark poetic undercurrent. It's just perfect.

The song was written by Conor O'Brien from Irish band Villagers after Charlotte approached him to write a song for her to perform. Although written by someone else, Charlotte completely owns the song.

The song makes me wonder what a collaboration between Charlotte Gansbourg and the Tindersticks might sound like. That's something that I'd certainly like to hear one day.

It originally surfaced as a limited edition seven inch single for Record Store Day in April. Read about it on an earlier blog posting. >

The song is expected to appear on a double CD due out later this year to be entitled Live and Unreleased, her first album release since 2009's IRM.