Luje

When night falls, flickering streetlights illuminate the concrete giants and deserted streets, creating an unwelcoming atmosphere. While the torments of the night often reflect our moods, there is nevertheless a profound and unadulterated beauty in the darkness. It is precisely this beauty that emanates from Luje’s album Among The Firs. Recorded in a refuge in the middle of pine forests, the Lyon-based band’s second album reflects a desire to draw on intimate subjects such as the loss of a loved one (‘Don’t Go’, ‘Yeah’, ‘Free Spirit’) but also to express concerns common to all, such as politics (“89”, ‘All The Same’) and eco-anxiety (‘Nobody Speaks’, ‘Too Cold’).

In this more liberated second album, entirely self-produced by the band’s structure Machins Machines and to be released by Howlin’ Banana and Confiture Distribution, Luje gently breaks away from the electro-pop melodies that populated their previous efforts to explore more abrupt and saturated terrain, consolidating their shoegaze foundations.

An uppercut of an album where impetuous percussion, retro-futuristic layers of synthesizers, ethereal vocal lines, and guitar notes that are sometimes incisive, sometimes enveloping, collide. A reassuring and decadent refuge of an album, the perfect alternative for cutting yourself off from the world and letting your emotions do the rest.