holden1

French band Holden are here - 5 NYC shows & a WNYC appearance (2009 tour dates & videos)

Holden

Holden is a French duo who began recording in 1997. Band members are Armelle Pioline (vocals) and Dominique Dépret (aka Mocke, guitar). With Pierre-Jean Grapin (drums), Evan Evans (clavier) and Richard Cousin (bass), they released ‘L’arrière monde’ in 1998. In 2001, they met the producer Senor Coconut aka Atom aka Uwe Schmidt, who mixed their second album, ‘Pedrolira’ (2002). They recorded their last album, Chevrotine, in Chile, 2006

Holden‘s newest album Fantomatisme was released in 2009. The four songs streaming at their MySpace are great. Time Out describes it well: “Parisian duo Holden offers wistful, transporting folk-pop, accented with bossa nova and jazz. Armelle Pioline’s yearning French vocals make us feel like we’re inhabiting an early Godard film.” The slower / bossa nova songs remind me of Keren Ann or Astrud Gilberto, though in some videos (below), they also rock out a little more.

Supposedly the band is big in France, but nobody knows about them here. That means we get to see them in intimate venues while they’re visiting NYC for five shows this week. The first was Saturday night at Zebulon (did you catch it?). Sunday (11/15) the show is at Sycamore. Monday is at Matchless. Tuesday at Barbes (as well as a WNYC radio session with David Garland earlier that day), and then Wednesday they end the run at Pianos (they play right before Violent Soho who play before… Group Sounds?!). All dates and some videos below…

Holden – 2009/2010 Tour Dates
Nov 14 – Zebulon Cafe NEW YORK
Nov 15 – SYCAMORE NEW YORK
Nov 16 – MATCHLESS NEW YORK
Nov 17 – Session Radio David Garland NEW YORK
Nov 17 – BARBES CAFÉ NEW YORK
Nov 18 – PIANOS NEW YORK
Nov 20 – Bruxelles (Salle des Musiques) Bruxelles
Nov 23 – La Boule Noire (1ere partie de JP Nataf) Paris
Nov 27 – STRASBOURG “Le Molodoi” STRASBOURG, Alsace
Dec 2 – La Java (avec Mathieu Boogaerts) Paris
Dec 11 – Saintes -festival son et lumiere des Scintillantes Saintes
Feb 13, 2010- L’IMPRIMERIE “Théâtre de Rive de Gier” Rive de Gier