PRESS
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Mi and L'au | Review
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www.looserecord.com | Nate Wey The beautiful melodies and tales of loss, love and questions will leave fans of cinematic folk music extremely satisfiedFeb 23/06Opening the front cover of Mi and L'au shows two polarizing images. The cover itself, an isolated cabin buried in snow, is contradicted on the inside, with a cabin in the sunshine. The duality of the images is not the only one in the record: There are two official members of the band (Mi and L'au), from two separate countries (France and Finland); and the record itself was recorded in two separate places (the cabin previously mentioned and M. Gira's studio in Brooklyn).However, the duality ends here, for the music is very singular. The record doesn't stray much from its minimal, folk slowcore, and this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, on repeated listens one finds this minimalism responsible for the power of the album's cinematic, emotional feel. From the great opening track, "They Marry" we're given a series of extremely slow, weightless melodies with male and female vocals over them. When I say slow, I am not exaggerating. Mi and L'au take what Low started, and give it a healthy dose of Codeine. Rather......
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Akron/Family | Interview with Dana Janssen
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Discorder Magazine (Vancouver) | Luke Meat The best thing about people comparing you to The Beatles is that you sound nothing like The BeatlesFeb 06It's your typical "move to New York to follow your dreams" story. Only this tale doesn¹t have a Midnight Cowboystyle ending. Described as "four extremely nice, sincere and well mannered young men from rural America who came to New York City in 2002 to make music," the Akron/Family made three home studio demos before attracting the attention of Swans founder, poet, and Young God Records owner Michael Gira. Not only did Gira release Akron's first two albums, but he also requested that they become the backing band for his own solo project, Angels of Light. One impression you get when you hear Akron/Family's music is that of total happy abandonment. No Wave Noise blends into fourpart harmonies while The Band plays on. Their live shows have been described as orgasmic chaos. Talking to Akron member Dana Janssen on the phone was more like a jovial chat over pints at the local, rather than an interview.Dana Janssen:Bonjour?Discorder: Bonjour Dana? J'mapelle Luc Meat. Ahhhhhhhhh! Monsieur Meat![laughs]Comment ça va? I can't speak French man! [laughs]How are ya man? I'm so glad......
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Mi and L'au | Review
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Advance Feature Westword | Eryc EylMi and L'au's quiet songs speak volumes.Denver ,Colorado Article Published Feb 9, 2006 Mi and L'au are Young Gods' latest deities. Sometimes, Mira Romantschuk still can't believe her luck. "Two years ago we were in Paris, without homes, in a very critical state," she exclaims. "We left Paris for Finland to work on our music and try to survive on what we had." Romantschuk is recounting the origins of the duo she formed with French soundtrack composer Laurent Leclère. The history of the pair, now known as Mi and L'au, has quickly developed a mythological air -- the tale of two young lovers fleeing cosmopolitan Paris for self-imposed exile in an isolated Finnish cabin. It's a beautiful story -- but that's only half of it. "We met in 2001 on Halloween," the waifish singer remembers. "One night, Laurent asked me to sing some of his lyrics. A week later, we had our first gig in Paris." The musical and personal chemistry was instant, but the honeymoon ended when Mi and L'au encountered serious financial difficulties. Paris was no longer the city for them, so they fled to Romantschuk's homeland to live a simpler -- and......
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Akron/Family with Mi & L'au | Live Review
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http://justaddnoise.com | Nick under ToursI said it before, but I'll say it again, DO NOT miss these guys when they tear up your town. We made the hour trip to Denton from Dallas, drove the wrong way on the one way streets in the downtown square, found a place to park out back and took a seat at the bar just in time to catch the last part of local band Shear Water's set as we notice the "$2 you call it" sign. These guys are rockin' the banjo like nobody I've ever seen before and singing a folk-ish pop ditty of "These drugs just aren't working like they used to", but from my perspective, these cheap kamikazes are starting to work just like they're supposed to. If you've heard Mi & L'au's record (and you should've!), you know that their minimal style is not well suited for a noisy bar full of drunken college kids out on a Tuesday night. There's a dull roar of the chatter from the crowd there for the cheap drinks and constantly bar glasses clattering in the background. And that's all it takes to overpower their delicate guitars and hushed vocals if you're more......
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Mi and L'au | Review
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http://www.octopus-enligne.com | Christophe TaupinFrench Review Feb 5/06Sommaire du mois /oursins chroniques Mi And L'Au (Young God Records / Differ-Ant) L'histoire de Mi And L'Au a tout du conte de fée bobo qui ferait le bonheur de la chroniqueuse musicale de ELLE. L'Au, le français, rencontre Mi la finlandaise à Paris. Le musicien et le mannequin tombent amoureux et partent vivre dans une petite cabane au beau milieu la forêt finnoise où ils écrivent, composent et enregistrent des chansons à la simplicité bouleversante. C'est peut-être par l'intermédiaire de Devendra Banhart avec qui L'Au a gratouillé occasionnellement à Paris que le duo rentre en contact avec Young God Records, le label de Michael Gira (ex-Swans et Angels Of Light) qui invite le duo à venir mixer son premier disque à Brooklyn après que quelques folkeux locaux (dont Akron/Family, d'autres pensionnaires de Young God, et Julia Kent qui collabore avec Antony And The Jonhsons) aient apporté leur touche musicale à cette petite merveille. Prenant le contre-pied de la technicité, le duo fait de la simplicité son principal atout. L'univers du duo ne consiste souvent qu'en la simple combinaison de guitare acoustique et de la voix de Mi (plus rarement celle de L'Au) auquel......