Quebec microtonal duo Angine de Poitrine are having the sort of year that makes the phrase “cult band” increasingly difficult to apply. Fresh from their US live debut at the Newport Jazz Festival, the pair have embarked on their first American headline tour, and every date is sold out.
The run begins with two nights at Denver’s Ogden Theatre and stretches all the way into December, with demand prompting additional shows in several cities. Los Angeles, New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland and Seattle are among the stops, with multiple nights booked in many of them.
It is another unlikely turn in the rapid ascent of Khn de Poitrine and Klek de Poitrine, whose combination of microtonal guitar, percussion and vocals draws acid techno, disco, prog and rock into music built around repetition, rhythmic mutation and sheer physical momentum.
The tour follows April’s Vol. II, the duo’s second full-length album and a further expansion of their tightly constructed musical world. Tracks including ‘Fabienk’ begin with seemingly simple ideas, in this case a single microtonal guitar loop, before repetition, doubling and subtle shifts gradually transform them into something considerably more complex.
American audiences appear to have caught on quickly. Following the US physical release of Vol. I and Vol. II in June, Angine de Poitrine landed across nine Billboard charts, reaching Number Two on Vinyl Albums and Indie Store Album Sales and Number Three on Top Album Sales.
Their online audience is just as substantial. A Live on KEXP performance has passed 18 million views, providing a particularly effective introduction to a band whose precision becomes considerably stranger when you can actually see how the sounds are being made.
There is plenty of eccentricity surrounding Angine de Poitrine, from cardboard costumes and double-necked microtonal guitars to a self-created mythology involving hot dogs, pyramids and space travel. But underneath the Dadaist theatre sits a remarkably disciplined musical operation. These songs move through asymmetric rhythms and sudden structural changes without surrendering the groove.
The duo are also using their first US headline run to bring a piece of Quebec with them. Population II, Annie-Claude Deschênes, zouz and René Lussier will rotate through support slots, giving American audiences a wider look at the province’s independent music scene.
Between headline dates, Angine de Poitrine will appear at festivals including King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s Field of Vision II, Levitation and Riot Fest, part of an international schedule that also takes them through Canada, Japan, Europe and the UK.
Two years into their ascent, Angine de Poitrine remain an extraordinarily peculiar proposition. The difference now is that considerably more people are in on it, and judging by a US tour where every ticket has already disappeared, the cardboard revolution is travelling remarkably well.
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