Bands We Like: Argentinian Folksters Les Mentettes Orchestra
July 26, 2010
Few bands come around that are so charming, so funny and so…country that I’d take off my shoes and do a hoedown if I wasn’t at work. Iggy favorite Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros did it to me first with their hippie indie single “Home,” and now, Argentina’s Les Mentettes Orchestra is bringing back that nostalgic, lovey, swing-yer-partner feeling.
Les Mentettes Orchestra, who have a new album coming out, isn’t a country band actually. They’re a folky pop band with an enormous, 18-or-so-piece orchestra and they’re all over the map genre-wise (wouldn’t you be if you had a huge orchestra?!).There’s a jazzy Beatles-like melody on their track “Lazy Boy” and a low-key psychedelic feel on “Fairy Tale” but — I can’t believe I’m saying this — my favorites are definitely their country pop tracks.
The band consists of a frontmen and women (Adrian Rivoira and Eugenia Brusa) who met in grade school, and since their last LP the band has just kept growing. Between all the members, the band plays more than 20 instruments, including the oboe, the banjo, and yes, the kazoo. They’re coming up with a new, yet-unnamed album soon, and I hope it preserves their down home weirdness.
Photo Courtesy of Las Mentettes
Les Mentettes Orchestra (“the mints”) dug up a year-old video of their performance of the earthy track “Folky,” which has a gorgeous twangy, rich, enthusiastic melody and super dark lyrics:
“You should kiss your mother for the last time. You should kiss your father for the last time. You dont know but the trees have told me there’s a big rod coming to destroy our society!”
Watch them sing it live here! I dare you not to dosey-do!
The band has also been releasing teasers of their new album. Based on these trippy videos of their studio sessions, I have no idea what it’s going to sound like. Here’s the fourth installment of the teasers:
