Zero
Les Suicidés

Simplicity is the soul of things. So much substance and freshness, perhaps discovered by chance, can weave an emotional tension superior to that of so much smoke and embellishments well-packaged. Thus, amid cigarette strips and post-binge visions, music, now angry, now sweet, comes from my roommate's room. All I have to do is ask and it shall be given. I have discovered the soundtrack of my life for the next week. There is a site called www.jamendo.com where bands can upload their albums and musical demos and have them downloaded IN FULL and LEGALLY.
And there is a band that, wrapped in its anonymity, timidly tries to break free. By force? No. With emotions. With notes. With the heart. Parisians and practically unknown here, in just 4 tracks it seems like I've discovered the very essence of French alternative rock, that delicate and dreamy attitude that often envelops the most rugged bands from across the Alps.

Only 4 songs are more intense than 10 or any other number, because this way you can avoid fillers, the more slippery episodes, and focus straight to the point, to the listener's heart. The title-track begins with a bang, after a soft whispered intro that gives way to a slow 3-chord riff that then plunges into the river of a gentle voice whispering verses in French, and into arpeggios that draw emotional tensions. And then again we see them explode in electricity and in settings that almost seem more shoegaze than alternative rock, except for the sulfurous and guitar acidity of the pieces that end in crystal-clear screams.
It's up to “Oh Le Mal Au Coeur” to lick the wounds, in arpeggios that will later be recognized as Zero’s trademark, notes halfway between the pop/rock with a French soul of recent years and a strange alternative that in its more ambient and evocative moments winks at post-rock and even Alcest-inspired shoegaze (despite the fact that the great Neige plays a completely different genre, but he's their compatriot and you can feel this very well…).
But everything is refined, elegant and whispered. A few poetic and simple verses imprinted on the heart with immediacy that is hard to comprehend. This is what amazes me about Zero: they are a “simple” band. Few notes, few arpeggios, rhythms easy to memorize and hum. Yet, wonderful emotions and sensations accompany the listening if one lets go. Just like in “Le Complexe De Peter Pan”… Distorted effects and a dilated voice seem to want to pick up the baroque fabric of the more airy Muse, but it's just an illusion because they are light years away from that complexity. Zero is an humble rock band, calm, nestling into its dreams and freely offering them to the listener. And “Transporterraum” magnificently closes this work, with a delicate "French kiss" and a liberating and enveloping scream in sulfur guitars, closing the circle and bringing us back home content.

Paris, its thousand lights and metropolitan sensations, have a new soundtrack. Simple and delicate but, perhaps for this very reason, intense.

A little gem, in the frantic anticipation of an official album of theirs....

In the meantime, this demo I've reviewed is completely free and you can legally download it here!