FRANCE

France biography
France are - appropriately enough - a French krautrock trio, formed in 2005 by hurdy-gurdyist Yann Gourdon, bassist Jérémie Sauvage and drummer Mathieu Tilly, all students at the École des Beaux-Arts in Valence. The three also participate in the various bands of the Le Puy-based avant-garde folk collective La Nòvia. The long shadow of Tony Conrad and Faust's seminal Outside the Dream Syndicate looms over France's pulsing minimalist "drone-folk", expressed in over twenty releases of usually limited editions and issued over various labels including Sauvage's own Standard In-Fi.

Barring their 2010 self-titled debut and its 2011 follow-up Pau, France's discography mostly consists of room recordings of their hypnotic improvised live shows, performed in the middle of the audience and ranging from around thirty minutes to over an hour of relentless zoned-out jamming, revolving around the steady din of Gourdon's amplified vielle à roue.

France come highly recommended to fans of Water Damage, Gnod, Vibracathedral Orchestra, Spacemen 3, David Maranha and even Boredoms.


- Gordy, September 2023