Posts
The Bernadette Maries are Guy Tournay (vocals, guitar), Daria (vocals, bass), Romain Rouserez (drums/percussion). Also mentioned is David, as collaborator and live member. The band formed in 2024 and in the same year released its first single, 'Dream Place', followed by more singles and an EP, 'LvvV' in 2025. Come 2026 and debut album Soft sees the light of day.
The band mixes shoegaze, with dreamy sequences with a pop undertone. Smashing Pumpkins is a band the members must have heard. 'Happy Song' tells you that with ease. One of the singles, 'ESO' does even more so, but let us return to the opening song and name giver of the album, 'Soft'. Here the two contrasts already come together. The dark guitar sounds of shoegaze are prominent the in intro and move to the (far) background in the opening verse. The other guitars are like those that can be heard on U.S. bands like DIIV and Beach Fossils. Light melodic sequences, somewhat in a Johnny Marr style, and long held darker lead notes. 'Soft' is quite the opening statement from The Bernadette Maries. Here we are it says. A take it or leave it statement is playing straight into my ears. The singing is a far more dreamy. Guy Tournay has a voice without much depth, while Daria sings the background vocals with an angelic voice.
This description more or less sums up the music on Soft. Before you get the wrong impression from this summing up so soon, Soft is a varied and more importantly a good debut album. The Bernadette Maries are not scared of showing who influenced them, but used these influences to create new songs that I will be listening to for a while. Soft is a nice edition to what came before and could be a stepping stone for others in the future. And how about soft? Not exactly.
Wout de Natris - van der Borght
You can listen to and order Soft here:
https://geographie.bandcamp.com/album/soft
No comments:
Post a Comment