Life always has room for another electro-pop diva and Heloise Williams has both the hips and the quips to contend with the best…
Run your eyes over her rock n’ roll résumé and you’ll discover that she was once the tour bus driver and faux-bodyguard for everyone’s favourite fatherfucker Peaches (all hail!) and also appeared on The Friday Night Project back in April ’08 with the show’s guest-host Elijah Wood. The pint-sized actor happens to be the founder of Simian Records, with whom Heloise and the Savoir Faire are signed to. So far it all makes for an interesting Wikipedia entry for the 39 year old from Brooklyn. Not to mention she was once on the receiving end of a terrifying Canadian goose attack when she was just eleven years old. If that’s not enough reason to start an artsy electro-punk band and dance the Hitchcock fear anyway, then I don’t know what is.
Also supporting her glittery anti-geese regime on the NYCene is none another than new wave sovereign Deborah Harry, who lends her parallel lines pipes to a few tracks on Heloise and her band’s sophomore album ‘Diamond Dust’ (co-produced by Shy Child’s Pete Cafarella and duo “Bassy” Bob Brockman & Eric Gorman.)
It’s an album buffed to sheeny Róisín Murphy styled perfection (e.g. check out the total club quirkfest that is ‘Dive In‘.) It may not break the fizzing electro-pop formula or be quite as bold and immediate as anything the disco-funk queen from Ireland has previously offered — but it’s packed with enough addictive dance floor hits, euphoric style and quirky sex appeal for Heloise to stamp her own heel-print on the world.
A bit like Scissor Sisters, Heloise & The Savoir Faire dress dreamy eighties dance grooves around their brassy contemporary pop bones. Listen to the stomping ‘Kopio’ and you’ll be sure to hear a hint of Jake Shears & Co. having a good ol’ kiki. Fans of Swedish singer-songwriter Jenny Wilson (known for her collaborations with Robyn and The Knife) might also notice some similarities in the effortlessly cool and assertive vocals both women can pump out like a ribbon-adorned industrial fan machine (especially on key album track ’Vibezz’.)
There’s even an homage to iconic 80s film director John Hughes, which begins with a line that sounds as though it’s been borrowed straight outta Ke$ha’s handbook for boys/life: “Too chicken shit to kiss, let’s get happy with this”…
But don’t worry, in this case, that’s a good thing.
Get happy with Heloise & The Savoir Faire. Download ‘Diamond Dust‘ on iTunes now: