#cheveu

Cheveu - Like a Deer in the Headlights

Born Bad

The #1 “rock” album of the decade: Cheveu’s “Bum” (2014). I can’t say that this song embedded above this text in particular has grown on me completely, but the video is bugged. But I do challenge you to listen to the rest of the album, which is otherworldly. Distinctly French echoes of Metal Urbain’s motorik providing a tight rope for Olivier Demeaux and Etienne Nicolas to balance disparate strands of black metal, prog, synth punk, orchestral-like flourishes, and the harmonies of angels and devils alike. David Lemoine’s vocals, while cantankerous and inexplicable through broken English on a few tracks, opts for a softer, more subdued approach on the French-language numbers (and even a bit heart-rending on the English-language closer, “Johnny Hurry Up”). 

According to this 2014 review from Tiny Mix Tapes:

Cheveu scan as an essentially democratic collective, putting as much emphasis on Lemoine’s monologuing as they do the delicate tissue of synth and guitar that opens “Polonia.” Yet, you get the feeling Cheveu could really make a leap if they put more emphasis on Lemoine’s lunatic, vicious charm; he has such an immense presence (up there with the Mark E. Smiths of the world) that no matter how well put together Cheveu’s music is, his absence from the mic at any given moment feels like a missed opportunity, especially when he’s repeating himself.

I’ve seen Cheveu live and Lemoine is a presence, for sure. But there are just so many profoundly beautiful instrumental sections on this album that work precisely because of Lemoine’s minimal approach to surrounding vocals. “Monsieur Perrier”, a prime example:

Short-shrift need not be given to the other 2/3 of Cheveu: Olivier Demeaux is also of central figure in the wildly acclaimed ACCIDENT DU TRAVAIL, as well as a member of Heimat, and briefly even worked in the studio with Protomartyr; Etienne Nicolas is a veteran guitar slinger, whose subtle excellence can be found with acts like Bosom Divine, Euromilliard, and Shake Shake Bolino. “Bum” got the best of all three men, and I strain to see how they could have balanced it better.

Quite a bit of the music on “Bum” registers on a spiritual level for me, for lack of a better and less cringe-inducing phrase. The mix of absurdity, dark humor, ethereal soundscapes, and angelic harmony is transcendent and has complemented some of the more trying and dramatic moments in my life since 2014. 

Cheveu were at their most imaginative on “Bum”, light years beyond their “weird punk” of the aughts. Psychedelia and madness I was happy to be subsumed by. The album sounds like nothing you've heard in the last ten years, and you WILL NOT be better for having refused to listen to it. The post-indie indie rock of Grizzly Tractor or Poppa’s Biological Children or whoever was probably better, though. You’re right. 

Stream/Buy: https://cheveu.bandcamp.com/album/bum-2

CHEVEU

"Clara Vénus / Superhéro"

(7". SDZ rcds / Royal rcds. / 2006) [FR]

Groupe Doueh & Cheveu @ Dour Festival 2017