Eux Autres

Our favourite Texan Ken wrote a very nice guestpost on Eux Autres, a band I never posted about. All the reason to send Ken the new Elisa Lunghini album (because).


Eux Autres are a band based in Portland, Oregon, consisting of sister and brother Heather (on drums and vocals) and Nicholas Larimer (on guitar and vocals). The music is a sweet, but sparse indie-pop and they're not averse to breaking out into a twangy guitar garage rock frenzy, from time to time (the overall sound is comparable to Belle & Sebastian, St Etienne or Stereolab). Sharing vocals on many songs, their harmonies are sublime - they sing in that kind of 'back and forth' manner that only siblings seem able to muster (my theory as to the origins of this kind of sixth sense of timing, which underpins these sibling sing-a-longs, is that they are finely tuned from years of practice – the daily squabbles over the family dinner table).

The refreshing twist in a number of their songs is the influence of a Yé-Yé pop-vibe that comes to the forefront when Heather sings in French, her fille fragile voice accompanied by at times soley by some well appointed hand claps. She makes it sound very sophisticated and graceful, like a girl who's attended a finishing school run by Francoise Hardy. It's all too easy to fall under the spell of their charm and to be dazzled by their poise, as they deliver witty and cosmopolitan conversation, while preserving a charming, homespun sensibility.

They have produced a handful of E.Ps since 2003 and they’re two albums into their career with 'Hell Is Eux Autres' released in 2006 and 'Cold City'; and they’re currently in the studio - the third one should be out shortly!

Eux Autres - Salut les copains