Jamaica: One love, one misleading name, one very french sound

Island grooves? Not quite. This fledgling Parisian duo doesn’t produce anything even remotely akin to reggae. The catchy string-driven pop of Antoine Hilaire (guitar/vocals) and Flo Lyonett (bass/vocals) has predictably been likened to Phoenix, Justice, Daft Punk and all those top tier French touch producers.

It’s not a completely bogus parallel to draw – Justice’s Xavier de Rosnay and Daft Punk’s Peter Franco did produce their debut LP, after all – but Jamaica really is your quintessential French rock band.

Hilaire and Lyonett, whose upbeat anthem “I Think I Like U 2” put everyone in a cheerful mood last summer, are finally releasing their solid debut, No Problem this side of the pond this month. On it, the Frenchmen whip up breezy jams that have been almost entirely spared any synth contamination – a rarity in this age of inane nods to bygone times.

Jamaica
April 18 | Le Belmont
4483, St-Laurent
with Via Audio
www.myspace.com/ithinkilikejamaica