The Storm Makers, sensual outrageousness
We often talk about a snake’s fascination with the flute, of that almost surreal attraction that enables the snake charmer to show off. But fascination can be felt on a much smaller scale. If we set hypnosis aside, we talk about seduction or passion. It’s from this absolutely necessary aptitude that was born The Storm Makers project. “Our band was born from a mutual fascination with The White Stripes, for their music, but above all for the freedom that exuded from their stage shows. Mostly improvised concerts with no setlist, with songs that could stop before the end just because they wanted to go onto something else, or on the contrary songs that would go on and on just because they’d decided it.”
Fire From The Sky by The Storm Makers
So Sarah and Joachim focused on the flexibility and unpredictability of their sets, deciding to stop before the end or simply continue ceaselessly. This instrumental freedom requires a lot of dexterity, a sensory communication, and so a lot of complicity. “Sarah had never once in her life touched any drums. But she still accepted when I asked her to become the band’s drummer. We headed to a recording studio for the first time in 2011 and she felt at ease straight away behind a drum kit.”
Little protected of Psychedelic Revolution, a collective and festival that showcases emerging bands from the psychedelic-grunge-garage-punk-rock scene (it just doesn’t stop!), The Storm Makers had the opportunity to play a few gigs in Toulouse but also further up in the capital. A happy ending, then, when you think of how it all started, in a garage corner. Spotted by the right people with the right tastes in music, Joachim and Sarah are lucky and ingenious enough to be what they are: a group with absolutely no pretentiousness. All the more reason, the fire on their latest album is burning hot.
From the very first track – and there are more than 15 – we’re slapped in the face by sex and swing. Not that kind of sex though, put aside pornos and other disgusting ideas. No, here it’s hyper-sensuality. Joachim’s voice, which peaks right up into the high notes and down into the deeper ones, emits, contrary to all expectations, a good dose of testosterone. And Sarah’s there to give rhythm to these hormonal outbursts. Besides their previous EPs that weren’t quite there, the duo from Toulouse’s first album is uncluttered and accomplished in its genre. “Fire From The Sky” is an invitation into post-cabaret rock, more similar to burlesque than French cancan. Wildly enthusiastic, without needing to stick Crazy Horse feathers in their behinds, Sarah and Joachim maintain the rhythm until the very end, scattered with gargantuan effects and tantalizing tempers. Insidious, yes, but for a good cause.
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