Tahiti 80 (FR)

Had Jean de la Fontaine chosen them to brighten a fable, Tahiti 80 would undoubtedly have inherited the role of the ant. Diligent and consistent, the band, formed by Xavier Boyer and Pedro Resende in the mid-1990s on the campus of Rouen University, never stopped working, refining and enriching their songwriting over the course of their albums – five have been released to date. From their debut Puzzle to the latest The Past, the Present & The Possible, Tahiti 80 has always favored innovation over the comfort of staying put, viewing each record as an opportunity to explore a new sonic universe and push further into the vast enterprise of crafting a pop song. While the band experimented with machines and electronics on the latest album, one can recall their exploration of Black music on the highly produced Fosbury, followed by a return to immediate pop songwriting with Activity Center – all transformations that showcase a group in constant search, in perpetual evolution.

Yet, what stands out as the band celebrates its 20th anniversary is that, despite its eclectic chapters, it has managed to write a coherent and steady story. Since the arrival of guitarist Médéric and drummer Sylvain in ’94, Tahiti 80 has released, more or less, an album every three to four years. Each record demonstrates sophisticated songwriting, learned from the catalogs of Factory and Sarah Records, and from the band’s heroes – whose names reflect a true love for the American West: Teenage Fanclub, Stone Roses, Clash, Boo Radleys, My Bloody Valentine, and overlooked sixties legends like The Left Banke. “When people ask us to describe our music, I like to say we draw from a record collection that goes from A to Z—from Aphex Twin to the Zombies,” sums up Xavier. With these influences, Tahiti 80 rooted, long before it became trendy, a practice of colorful, bilingual pop in France. At a time when local artists were asked, due to quotas, to perform in the language of Gainsbourg, Tahiti 80 were already visionaries, demonstrating a love for the lyricism of Dylan Thomas and Carson McCullers in impeccably written English, combining traditional pop formats with dance-floor rhythms in a very Anglo-Saxon musical tradition. “We wanted to combine modernity in sound with a certain classic songwriting inherited from the 60s. Our ambitions haven’t really changed.”

Another constant in Tahiti 80’s story is the band’s greater success abroad than at home from their very first tours. Recognized in France, they enjoy considerable fame in Belgium, the United States, and especially Japan, where the single Heartbeat became the most played track on Japanese radio upon its release, and where the band continues to experience a form of “Tahitimania” with every visit. “Girls would throw themselves under taxis, people would give us records at showcases. A manager at HMV told us he hadn’t seen anything like it since James Brown. In the US, we played sold-out tours. The Posies, who were our heroes, came to see us.”

These distant travels are complemented by a series of collaborations with international musicians and producers: Andy Chase, Tore Johansson (Cardigans), Eric Matthews (Cardinal), Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne)… Tahiti 80 pushed their taste for collaboration even further, filling the gaps between their own albums by producing other artists’ work: Mehdi Zannad, Bordeaux band Calc, Japanese star Kahimi Karie, or young artists from Rennes like Manceau, whom the band took under its wing in their Rouen studio, Tahiti Lab, where they have curated a fine collection of instruments since the beginning. “Whenever we earn a bit of money, we buy equipment. I remember a band explaining that they bought an 8-track to keep making music if the label dropped them. It’s kind of the same for us.” This openness extends within the band itself: drummer Sylvain’s hearing issues after Fosbury pushed Tahiti 80 to rethink the division of roles, enabling a rebirth with the addition of a new musician to the original lineup. Now a quintet, the band benefits from Raphael Léger on drums.

After signing with Atmosphériques and a contract with Universal, the band created its own production structure, Human Sounds, a few years ago. Enriched by these experiences and renaissances, Tahiti 80 has thus written the exciting first chapter of a story whose next episode is unfolding this summer with the release of Bang, a new EP leading up to a sixth album due next year. Inevitably innovative.