Au Revoir Simone

The Au Revoir Simone formula has always been a simple one: three women, their keyboards and some drum machines. Sure, it's nothing earth-shattering, but the straightforwardness has served the Brooklyn trio well enough during their young career, and perhaps best on the group's latest effort Still Night, Still Light. Even more than on their last full-length, 2007's The Bird of Music, Au Revoir Simone strip their electronic pop down to the bare essentials, with producer Thom Monahan (Little Joy, Pernice Brothers) straying far away from any sort of distracting busyness. Instead, the band's triple-layered harmonies are simply put over a warm bed of minimalist beats and eerie arpeggios, and all is left well enough alone. With the increased starkness also comes a much more introspective, heartbroken tone, but not one that makes the record an overly dreary one. If anything, Still Night, Still Light is the first Au Revoir Simone album where the band actually seem to be taking themselves seriously.