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I happened upon Big Sir through a recommendation and I am quite grateful for the tip as the group, in the
UK at least, are barely a pin prick on the music radar. This may come as quite a surprise when you consider that LA based Big Sir is made up of two of music’s celebrated musicians.

Lisa Papineau, who has sung with Air and M83, provides flawless velvety vocals to laid back, mid tempo melodies provided by Juan Alderete, bassist for the Mars Volta. I am sure to many that this is already sounding like a dream and I assure you that their first album in five years Und Die Scheibe Andert Sichimmer will do everything but disappoint. Blutrausch (smooth interlude) Master is one of many highlights combining funk style drumming and a flute, played by Papineau, to create an effortless sounding summer track. As Papineau softly tells the listener, “you say naa naa”, its clear that this electronic pop duo are writing music to enjoy out of genuine love for what they do rather than cover their tracks in unnecessary, pretentious lyrics. This could well be the reason the band have not broken into the ever saturated electro/pop/indie scene over here.

With most bands big in the UK today shamelessly trying to promote political ideas, new genres and ultimately themselves, the happy go lucky attitude and hunger for music in the Big Sir camp is why their latest release has not got the recognition it deserves. They are not trying to tell us why their last love makes them wear black or why we shouldn’t watch Hollyoaks; they’re just letting us listen to what they’ve created. A mere glance at the band’s myspace page shows that they are far from the ten bulletin-a-day culture which creates these so called myspace ‘phenomena’. The ‘about’ section pays tribute to a recently deceased saxophonist who inspired Juan and all other information about the band is strictly the essential making this a difficult post to research as many of the results of a google search directed me to Sir Mix-a-lot’s Baby Got Back. Maybe it is time I give in to those relentless ads on XFM and turn to another search engine.

With all musical politics aside Big Sir are definitely worth a listen. The band aren’t trying to grab you but that’s only because its not something this pair need to do to continue making music, which means the final product is free from industry interference. They won’t change the world and it’s unlikely they’ll make as much as a mark on the electronic pop scene but put tracks like Pistol Chasers and Lisa’s Theme on a playlist and they might just be the soundtrack to your Summer.

The album ‘Und Die Scheibe Andert Sichimmer’ is available now on GSL.

Big Sir currently have only one summer date lined up on May 12th in Beauvais.

Blutrausch (Smooth Interlude) (Removed)

Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-a-lot (Removed)