Gwendoline (FR)

Gwendoline is an anti-hero duo from the Rennes indie scene. Sensitive losers and jaded veterans of the start-up nation, Micka and Pierre craft their own style – a dark shlag wave with punchy, poetic spoken-sung vocals, drawing primary inspiration from barroom conversations and observing those around them. Between fatalistic lyrics, self-mockery, sarcasm, and the bitterness of the world’s mediocrity, their sincere cold-wave sound embodies a disenchanted youth and serves as the perfect soundtrack for protesting.

In 2017, they recorded their first album by locking themselves away for two weeks to compose everything in one go, drawing on their daily life in Rennes, countless nights at the bar, and contemporary anxieties. Initially self-released on Bandcamp, the album Après c’est Gobelet ! was pressed on vinyl in June 2020 by the Spanish indie label Dead Wax Records, with stocks selling out before the end of the year, and is now impossible to find in France.

At the end of 2020, Gwendoline was invited to perform at Les Trans Musicales, a favorite of Jean-Louis Brossard, with a live set at L’Ubu captured by FIP and Culturebox, accompanied by Maëlan and Romain, their stage collaborators.

Written without pretension or ambition, the duo was surprised by the attention their project received – from their programming at Les Trans Musicales to press coverage in major international media such as KEXP, France TV, Les Inrocks, and Post Punk Magazine.