Justice

Stephen Davis’s book ‘Hammer of the Gods’ tells the story of how Led Zeppelin, a group of young Englishmen never comfortable with their media stereotyping, took the sound of blues and folk, amped it up through the roof, conquered America, and eventually the world. It’s a saga wreathed in excess, explosive music and stadiums full of kids going totally nuts. It may well spring to mind when you hear ‘Audio, Video, Disco’, the highly anticipated new album from Parisian duo Justice.

Put the new album on and the ballistic electro-punk smashers of their 2007 debut seem like the exciting raw beginnings of something that has now bloomed. The new material is more sophisticated but never loses its oomph. It tips its hat to everything from Queen’s flamboyant theatrics to ’60s West Coast minstrelsy, but is also never far from the crunching riffery of The Who, Blue Oyster Cult and, yes, Led Zep. That said, it is, of course, all done with synthesizers, lathering on a unique sonic shimmy and widescreen drama.

“It is not like we’ve gone off in an obscure direction,” says Gaspard Augé, the taller hairier half of Justice, “Music that’s been to our taste during the making of the album – ELO, Black Sabbath, The Who– is made by some of the biggest bands in the world. Quite a few people like their sound. Maybe they will like ours too.” It seems likely. From the opening anthemic instrumental ‘Horsepower’ to the prog-disco electronica of the closing title track, it’s a trip – Giorgio Moroder meets Iron Maiden down at Fabric.

The pair are conscious that ‘Audio, Video, Disco’ is charting new territory for them and they’re incredibly excited – in their own unostentatious way. “’Rustic’ is a good word for this album,” explains Xavier, “made with the country in mind, the air, the trees, the mysticism of nature rather than the darkness of the night and the hard lines of the city.” To achieve these goals the duo have concentrated on writing songs rather than dance grooves and, although, there’s plenty of percussive bite to send dancefloors wild, much else is going on besides. After avoiding it in the past Justice finally got behind the microphone for a couple of songs but, while they considered asking Sparks to sing on a track, they decided in the end to stick with cult singers whose talents they admired and wished to expose, such as Ali Love, Morgan Phalen of New York band Diamond Nights, and Vincenzi Vendetta of Australia’s Midnight Juggernauts.

“For us this the Route 66 album,” adds Gaspard, “It’s a French album, with all these English influences from the ‘60s and ‘70s but it has that American wide open thing going on too.” It does. It’s big, and it’s going to be bigger. One day someone will write a book about how two French guys who were never comfortable with their media stereotyping, took the sound of electro, pop and hard rock, amped it up, conquered America, and eventually the world. It will be a saga wreathed in excess, explosive music and stadiums full of kids going totally crazy. Why wait to read it, though? Go get involved.