Le Pain Share New Single 'Is That How You Want Me to Feel?'

Los Angeles group Le Pain are back with their third, gorgeously rendered pop song "Is That How You Want Me To Feel?". After coming out of seemingly nowhere last summer with the nearly perfect single "Troisième Groupe", followed quickly by the jangle pop heaven of "Obvious to You", the band's profile has been on a steady rise, and it's easy to see why.

The band sit somewhere between Stereolab and Alvvays, their spry indie focused and immediate, with subtly intricate guitar work and warbling synthesizers bolstered by a sturdy rhythm section, and the singular vocal harmony of sisters Olivia & Madeline Babuka Black.

The band will be performing at SXSW this month. They're kicking off the run at The Echo in two weeks.

There's a purity to the music that Le Pain make, a crystallized dose of psychedelic pop that arrives fully formed, like waking from a surreal dream and remembering every detail. Anchored by Atlanta sisters Madeline and Olivia Babuka Black, the duo enlisted producer/multi-instrumentalist Scott Rosenthal and bassist Alan Everhart to write and record their first collection of songs.

"Troisième Groupe" opens with muted, warbly guitars before erupting into a kaleidoscopic tapestry of swirling delay, sunny synthesizers, and glossy harmonies. Though most of the group have spent years touring, you'd never guess it was front-woman Olivia Babuka Black's first band, her voice cutting through the mix like a pure sine wave, invoking the disaffected beauty of Laetitia Sadier and Trish Keenan.

Recorded at their home studio in Los Angeles, the self-produced collection comes wrapped in a distinct visual iconography, inspired in part by new wave cinema posters and 70's psychedelic pop. With lyrics split between French and English, the band build miniature worlds, the characters navigating heartbreak and loss with charming levity. "Is That How You Want Me To Feel" renders these scenes in intimate detail, lines like "sometimes when I'm all alone, I find myself speaking to the dial tone" delivered delicately over jangling guitars and a propulsive rhythm section. "Obvious To You" is steeped in weary romanticism, the Smiths-esque lead giving way to Black's soaring performance.

Listening to Le Pain feels like a revelation, the sound of a band who are just getting started, but know exactly what they want to do.

Listen to the new single here:

Tour Date

March 13th - Los Angeles @ The Echo - Tickets

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