le villejuif underground
On “On The Seine,” Nathan Roche, and the kind of drift that stays.
I discovered Le Villejuif Underground around 2016 through their self-titled track, “Le Villejuif Underground.” The band released their first album that same year, and I was immediately hooked by the sound, the vibe, and the feeling that something new was happening.
That feeling matters a lot to me when I discover a band. I am not always attracted to something because it is “good” in some objective way. What really gets me is when something feels fresh, original, and different from what I already know. When a sound opens a new space in my head, that is usually enough.
Their first album sounded cool right away. It had strong songs, a real personality, and that strange mix of looseness and control that I like. One of my favorite tracks to play when a DUWEI NIGHTS session starts is “On The Seine”, also from that album.
I always liked the intro of that song, especially the sequence of chords and the way it sets the mood. Nathan Roche described it like this:
“On The Seine” takes place right after a druggy escapade that results in Roche waking up by the Seine, a river in Paris. In his spot-on replication of Lou Reed’s cool drawl, Roche sings about experiencing withdrawal symptoms when he isn’t on stage playing music. As he pans in and out of consciousness, Roche gives vague indications that he knows where he ended up. This hazy trip wouldn’t be complete without its psychedelics, with sedated and slightly skewed instruments, like a second-hand high.
I also like the tension between “on the Seine” and “on the stage.” Two different places, two different states, but somehow very close in spirit.
I always thought their drummer, Thomas Schlaefflin, who later became guitarist, looked like a friend of mine. That has nothing to do with the music, but I always had that in mind. Later on, they moved toward playing with a drum machine, which also changed the feeling of the band.
After that, I moved to China, to Guangzhou. I was not following everything as closely anymore, and at some point I heard they ended up touring with Chinese pop stars. I still do not really know how that happened, but I always found that trajectory quite unexpected.
It was also during that time in Guangzhou, after listening to their first album again and again, that I started digging into Nathan Roche’s solo work. That is when I found Magnetic Memories, and that album really pulled me in.
That record helped me understand why I had connected so much with Le Villejuif Underground in the first place. There is that same offbeat side, still rock, but serious in its own way. Slightly strange, but never random.
The title track is great, but songs like “Amedee” and especially “Hollywood” stayed with me. I really like the synth bass in “Hollywood,” the slightly psychedelic textures, and the almost question-and-answer movement in the chorus. The album came out in 2014, but when I found it, it still felt completely fresh to me.
That was probably a kind of confirmation. It showed me that there is still a lot of creativity out there that feels alive. Not overproduced, not overthought, just something that exists with its own logic. Something a bit odd, but new. Something that sticks.
Nathan Roche is definitely an artist I keep coming back to.
I will write more about his work at some point, and probably come back to Le Villejuif Underground again.
For now, this is just one of those entries I wanted to keep here.