Overhead

Forget everything you know about Overhead and their superb first album from October 2002, Silent Witness - a schizophrenic collection of inspired tracks hovering between jazz and rock that left the critics swooning with unanimous praise - because a revolution was lurkinga major one. Overhead started out as the backing band for Nicolas Leroux, a singer with incredible emotional range who could flirt with the stratosphere one minute and drag his passions through the gutter the next. But Overhead was evolving conceptually, with a rift opening wider and wider between the jazz aspirations of the original musicians and the rock stylings of Nicolas, and eventually the group imploded. The singer, suddenly alone and in the drivers seat, picked up a couple of hitchhikers: Chakib Chambi, a fresh guitarist already seen onstage with the first edition of Overhead, and Richard Cousin, a bassist recently escaped from Holden - two guys who shared Nicolas taste for rock, having spent their adolescence basking in swirls of fog and English moodiness. Overhead has now become a unified gang of three musicians with a common spirit and the freedom to choose their own path, unapologetically exposing their rock roots. Nicolas, Richard and Chakib have created music that resonates with the soundtracks of their dreams: The Cure, My Bloody Valentine, Talk Talk, The Cocteau Twins, Sonic Youth, The Smiths, Pavement, The Pixies, Interpol and Radiohead, to whom they are often compared. But thats not all: on top of their rich birthright, Overhead will stir you with songwriting that can break your heart, plus a unique talent for spellbinding progressions and an inspiring, cinematic atmosphere. His art-school days behind him, Nicolas Leroux has torn up his first designs, and though we will never forget the handful of concerts and showcases that gave us a glimpse of the evolution underway before the split, No Time Between began as a blank canvas, with Chakib, Nicolas and Richard wielding the brushes. The album was written and recorded during a few intense months, less than a year after the release of Silent Witness, the band - ardently engaged in its new creation - has fired the opening shots in the Overhead revolution. Nicolas holed up for two weeks to write the lyrics, nourished by a delicate pessimism inspired by his impressions of the grimy side of life as observed from afar. His long residence in London had polished his English, and his sensibilities come through clearly in the international language of rock. Musically, Overheads three spirits have arrived at a perfect alchemy and never lack for inspiration. Written in one long, uninterrupted blast, No Time Between was recorded at La Frette, the same studio in northern Paris where the old line-up recorded Silent Witness. This time, on top of his vocal and guitar duties, Nicolas also took charge of the drums. Another difference was the lack of an outside producer: the group knew what it wanted and descended on the studio ready to produce it, without the need or desire for a helping hand. The only other person to lay a finger on this album was recording engineer Denis Cazajeux, who played a part in the recording and mixing. No Time Between is urgent, bloody, concise and full of imagery, as much painted as it is composed, with an immense panorama of 13 songs all capable of delivering distinct landscapes, abrupt changes in temperature and the unexpected devastation of a sudden thunderstorm on a sunny day. The group got some help from Pro Tools, musical composition software that visualizes the music in a free graphic form - guitar explosions and sonic walls scratched in black pencil over pastel backgrounds, with anger and rage spattering a dash of red across pale, lingering notes of melancholy. The most melodic, pop-enhanced tracks are remarkable for the acid-tinged colours of raw guitar sounds against dignified English rhythms. And always lurking behind the powerful sound of this group is Nicolas extraordinary voice, which falls somewhere between Jeff Buckley and Morrissey, caressing the ears, sending a shiver up the spine, softening the sharp edges of his stories and seemingly soaring without limits until it tumbles suddenly to earth. Overhead is taking a leap forward: what was only hinted at on Silent Witness is now a reality. Harbouring a musical and lyrical sensibility seldom seen in other French groups, Overhead can now take pride in easily measuring up to their guitar-band peers elsewhere, and their new swagger makes them capable of going head-to-head with the best of them, from across both the Channel and the Atlantic.
No time between tour with bands such as The Cure, Muse, Feist, Luke, Ann Pierle, Laetitia Sheriff, AS Dragon, Rhesus...
Side project: THE FUGITIVE KIND (Nicolas'solo project)
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Related bands: Sébastien Schuller , Landscape sound , Julie Peel