Au Revoir Simone

Au Revoir Simone take the burbling, pinging sound of early 1980s synth pop and replace the robotic feel with warm music that suits bucolic picnics better than cyborg weddings. In the early 2000s, Erika Forster (who had previously been in Dirty on Purpose), Annie Hart and Heather D'Angelo formed a trio around their love of retro keyboards. Even though they had to learn their instruments, things gelled quickly. Their debut album, Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation, recalled Birdie and Saint Etienne (as well as the mellower side of indie rock bands such as Yo La Tengo) rather than the cold man/machine feel of other bands playing with analog synths and keyboards. The album's lead-off track, "Through the Backyards," was played on an episode of Grey's Anatomy, exposing millions of people to Au Revoir Simone. The trio supported TV on the Radio and toured Europe and Japan. The band was featured in Peter Bjorn & John's video to "Young Folks" (a massive hit in the U.K.) and received further press when the director David Lynch requested they play for him in New York City. Au Revoir Simone released their simply lovely album The Bird of Music in early 2007.