Arlt

Arlt sounds like a secret shared between two people in a room where the furniture is slowly coming to life. Their music is built on the interplay between Eloïse Decazes' crystalline, slightly detached vocals and Sing Sing's dry, rhythmic guitar work. It is folk music stripped of its traditional comforts, replaced instead by a sense of wonder and a sharp, deadpan wit that feels both ancient and entirely modern.

What makes them truly distinctive is their use of space and silence. They don't fill the air with lush arrangements; they let the creak of a chair or the scratch of a guitar string become part of the composition. Their melodies often lean toward the medieval or the avant-garde, creating a sound that is 'chanson' in language but experimental in its skeletal, almost primitive execution.

Start with 'Feu la figure' to experience their most cohesive vision of this 'brut' folk aesthetic. It is an album that rewards close listening, revealing layers of dark humor and unexpected rhythmic complexity beneath its seemingly simple surface.