About

Full disclosure: L’Impératrice are French. That may come as no surprise, but it’s not just in the name or the lilting lyrics. Their brand of smooth house-cum-funk is so linked to those Gallic lands that many of the numerous monikers used to describe it come stamped with a ‘Made In’; French house; French touch; French boogie; all referencing the enduring popularity of staccato guitars and 4/4 kicks across the channel, even as they were considered passé elsewhere.
By the time the Nu-Disco movement arrived, the French had arthritis in their clicking finger. Although in this case the most apt of the subgenres befitting L’Impératrice might be Filter House, a testament to the layers of effects and a lounge-funk that came to define them. An effortless retro-cool - unironically pulling off a moustache and Hawaiian shirt. “Gauche couture”, perhaps.

Well, no more. They haven’t exactly left their roots behind, but mastering by Mike Bozzi (Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar) and mixing by Neal Pogue (Outkast, Tyler the Creator) has left its mark.

From the outset, on opener "Anomalie Bleue", there’s a shift in focus, one towards the weighty and the hip-hop. The 808 kick booms and snare whip-cracks over soaring G-funk synths, helping move the band away from pleasant pastiche towards their own concoction.

It’s those touches that give "L’équiibriste" the feeling of an R&B summer jam, singalong hook and all: like Aaliyah doing chanson, coming built on those distinctly French foundations: a more focused expression of their sound. – The Line Of Best Fit