After a two-hour wait standing in the cramped Paradise Rock Club following Australian Hyperpop opener Sam Qualley, La Femme revealed themselves to the audience. The band members trickled onto the stage, walking through clouds of fog machines and hazy blue lighting. Lead singer Marlon Magnee walks onto the stage with a glass of red wine in hand and a plate of nachos in the other, exuding an air of nonchalance that all French men aspire to.
Bass player Sam LeFevre with a Corona in hand saunters towards his keyboard—4 keyboards line the front of the stage, with only a bar fence, and a reluctant security guard separating my sister and I from the stage. La Femme’s sound is both new and familiar. Guitarist Sasha Got started the band alongside keyboard player Marlon Magnee in 2010 in Biarritz, France.
The band boasts four albums, Paradigmes: Supplements (2021), Teatro Lucido (2022), Levitation Sessions (2022), Paris-Hawaii (2023) and their most recent album released on October 11th, Rock Machine (2024). They currently have 9 members, though some of the female vocalists have changed over the 13 years the band has been active.
They performed their most popular songs from older albums, the weird, disgusting even, yet tantalizing “Mycose,” (fungal infection), the existential breakup anthem “Ou va le monde,” and “Elle ne t’aime pas.” “Mycose” seems to echo back to 60s escapism with lyrics like “je vais partir ailleurs que sur Terre/Pour une station interplanetaire/Sur la Lune, Pluton, Neptune ou Jupiter” (I want to go somewhere else than on Earth, to a space station, on the moon, Pluto, Neptune, or Jupiter).
Their French cold wave, punk and ye-ye influences are not only obvious in their lyrics and sound, but also their stage performances. Vocalist Fanny Luzignant performed in white knee-high go-go boots, long 60s-70s inspired hair and a plaid dress. Luzignant and vocalist Michelle Blades dancing alongside one another, tambourines in hand. “My Generation” explores 60s and 70s hedonism in choppy narratives. “Julia never came back she staying/at the rave, still riding on the wave.”
Beret wearing French vocalist Sacha Got sings of Western fantasies of escapism in “Cool Colorado,” displaying the band’s rebellious streak—made more obvious by his crowd surfing several times (to the chagrin and annoyance of the security guards.
In a tense political climate, La Femme reminds us that love, and institutions are fallible with their tongue in cheek “I Believe in Rock and Roll” and “Love is Over” from their new Rock Machine album. During a musical interlude Michelle Blades assumed a prayerful posture on her knees with hands clasped together, eyes closed. Their performances seemed to leave the audience in a trance.
Yet, Rock Machine also explore hopeful optimism in songs like “Venus” with lyrics like “Good morning I am the sun/Come-on take my hand, let’s just/start from scratch again/A new day full of surprises is waiting for you my friend/There will be no more sorrow.” “Ciao Paris!” represents the narrator’s departure from sadness and the “ciel gris (grey clouds)” into sunnier places. La Femme’s album offers no placations but offers some comfort in life’s absurdities, encouraging listeners to let loose and enjoy it while it lasts. I cannot say that I would condone the heavy use of cigarettes or LSD as a Franco-American listener, but Americans could learn a thing or two about La Femme’s joie de vivre.
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