For over a decade now, French couple Lionel et Marie Limiñana have toiled at pastiching a certain dark, transatlantic psych vibe, summoning the shadows that lingered after the Summer of Love with dope-stunned drones and dissolute poetry. Prophets in their own land, The Limiñanas were initially more appreciated in the U.S., until signing to the Because label in 2015 brought Europe up to speed. A couple of years ago, the couple joined their friend Anton Newcombe of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and cinema icon Emmanuelle Seigner, to form L’Épée, a provisional dive into vintage franco-psych sounds. Their collaborative streak continues with De Película, the product of a partnership with Laurent Garnier, a titan of the French Touch scene. Garnier cut his teeth behind the decks at Manchester’s legendary Hacienda club in the ’80s, so smoothly fusing rock and rave is old and familiar territory for him. Thus are the grooves of De Película assured – pneumatic, propulsive, yet reasonably paced. Built for comfort, not for speed (The pulsating “Promenade oblique” might be the year’s best autobahn anthem), they carry The Limiñanas’ luminous organ grind and raspy raconteur routines with grace. Already greater than the sum of its parts, the sublime De Película furtherbenefits from the wounded crooning of Bertrand Belin on “Au début c’était le début”, and Edi Pistolas of legendary Latin dance-punks Pánico, whose snakebite delivery adds hot sauce to the grand, swaggering “Que Calor !”.
