#lanarchiste

Winter Green & Brown.

Jacket from Pal Zileri, Drake’s shirt, Viola Milano tie, Vanda ps, pants from Berg & Berg and Crockett & Jones boots. Scent: Caron L’Anarchiste.

Also check out our website: Diplomatic Ties.

When a band alludes to anarchism in its name, it's usually a safe bet that you could be dealing with punk-related stuff. When a band uses French in its name, you can assume they're French. L'anarchiste, however, is not a group of French anarcho-punks. As a matter of fact, that's about as far away as you can get from their sound.

L'anarchiste are a Salt Lake City, UT-based act spearheaded by Rob LeCheminant, and although this may not be completely accurate, upon listening to their most recent record The Traveler, I was reminded of Justin Vernon. It's a versatile album, meaning that while it works with a set palette of sounds, the tunes never get stale. They're mostly built around acoustic guitar, but that's hardly an apt description -- it's really more like, the acoustic guitar forms the framework, the bones, and then the violins, horns, synths, drums, etc, are the muscles, nerves, tissues, and all the other stuff I don't know the names of because I could give a fuck about anatomy.

You can go get The Traveler on Bandcamp, and while you're at it, go watch the video for "Juneau" (the tune we happen to be featuring today). L'anarchiste is currently working on a new record, so other than Treefort, they don't seem to have any tour dates coming up. Luckily, though, you can like them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter @Lanarchisteband, and it'll feel like you're with them all the time. Yeah, social media!

GB! MAR2014 Mixtape by L'Anarchiste

"Juneau" is definitely my favorite track from L'anarchiste. It's brilliantly paced, with all the right changes and accents. While it starts slow and smooth, a drum groove based around rim hits gets the track moving along. Some synths get sparingly added to the mix, giving the track a certain atmosphere. Violins come a bit later to double-up on some of the synths, adding another layer. Structurally, this track is flawless. There's a slow but steady build, broken up by the choruses, and these breaks allow for each verse to step the tension up. The big payoff comes about two and a half minutes in, just after the final chorus. The drums get huge, the bass line gets more pronounced, the strings and synths peak, and then it all settles back in to where it started.