When a big touring gig in the States fell through, American singer/guitarist Paige Brubeck didn’t want to sit around wasting time. After years of listening to French music from the ’60s and ’70s (and dusting off her high school French), she found some cheap plane tickets and decided to come to Paris for a weeklong visit with partner/bandmate Evan Sult. The two musicians (who’ve released three albums as NYC-via-St. Louis duo Sleepy Kitty) took record stores and vegan cafes as their guide, and quickly found like-minded locals at storefront art galleries and basement rock clubs. Upon returning to Brooklyn, they immediately started planning their return trip – this time with instruments.  Not long after, they were back at a Paris open mic when they heard a killer version of the Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset.” This turned out to be French guitarist/singer Julien Heggart making his open mic debut. They clicked that night and Brubeck and Heggart spent the summer trading songs in French and English, from Francis Cabrel and Alain Suchon to The Everly Brothers and Elliott Smith. Though the Americans had to return to the States at the end of that summer, they all agreed to meet back up in Paris ASAP. Across the Atlantic, Brubeck and Heggart began collaborating on original songs via voice memo. As soon as Brubeck and Sult returned to France (in Nov ’24, not coincidentally), they met with Heggart and Parisian bassist Pablo Saguez (Nathalie OK, ZERO) to craft a set of new songs. Two live sessions recorded at Saguez’s Studio Blow show their startling range: soft harmonies offer mutual support on the aching “Strange Beautiful Time,” while “Remind Me Later” crashes into a buoyantly anthemic indie rocker — not surprising given that Sult’s first band Harvey Danger is a staple of ’90s radio.  The Tommy Crystal is a refraction of music from both worlds, sung in English and occasionally French, some facets glinting hard with the Velvet Underground, Neil Young, Pavement and Courtney Barnett, some softly glowing like Yo La Tengo or Francoise Hardy. As always, it’s the force pressing harmony and discord together that yields the most satisfying gems, and that’s exactly the stone from which The Tommy Crystal is cut.

MOVIE MOVIE takes the listener on a cinematic journey in their songs. Featuring members of Twin Guns, The Electric Mess, and The Above, they play upbeat, melodic guitar-based rock and roll that draws on a diverse array of musical styles but with a unified sound all their own you'll want to return to, like a good movie.   

Bubblegum Boot Rock for the masses STOMP Y’R HANDS CLAP Y’R FEET'