Essaie pas

The duo formed in the summer of 2010, releasing a guitar-oriented four-song cassette EP in the following year on their own Téméraire Records. Their following releases, a 2012 split with Hobo Cubes and Tout est jeune EP, showcased an electronic-oriented sound. In 2013, Malditos Records and Teenage Menopause Records co-released the compilation Nuit de noce, which featured the tracks from the previous cassettes, as well as an unreleased track, in vinyl format. A split EP with Police des moeurs and the 7" single "Danse sociale" were issued in 2014 and 2015, respectively.[3]

In 2016, Essaie pas released its debut studio album, Demain est une autre nuit, on DFA Records. The album was longlisted for 2016 Polaris Music Prize.[4] Its follow-up record, New Path, was announced in early 2018 and was released on DFA later that year.[5] An accompanying music video for the album track, "Complet Brouillé" was also produced.[6] In 2019, the band issued Earth EP, which they regarded as "a tribute to late 1990s, early 2000s pop trance tracks."[7]

Essaie pas's music has been described as electronic, minimal synth-pop[3] and cold wave.[8] Considered to be among the "contemporary groups reviving the DIY minimal synth sound of the 70s and 80s,"[9] the band combines "dark, minimal synth pop, French pop, Italo-disco, and elements of horror movie soundtracks."[3] Their lyrics, spoken and sung both by Davidson and Guerineau largely in French,[9] feature themes such as loneliness, sexuality, and fantasy.[3] The band's sophomore album, New Path drew on the themes of "personal ground, on addiction, loss and the lingering strength of identity within late capitalism’s mass media paranoia."[5]

The band's debut, Demain est une autre nuit was compared to "Giorgio Moroder and John Carpenter film scores as well as the industrial synth pop of Chris & Cosey," as well as Davidson's minimal wave solo work.[10] The band's sound also drew comparisons to the early Human League, "Sensoria"-era Cabaret Voltaire and darkwave acts such as Xeno & Oaklander and Cold Cave.[1] New Path, which featured "English and French lyrics, techno beats and fear-inducing soundscapes,"[11] was heavily influenced by Philip K. Dick's 1977 novel, A Scanner Darkly and borrows its title from the book.[12]

Studio albums

• Demain est une autre nuit (2016)
• New Path (2018)

EPs

• Essaie pas (2011)
• Liaisons dans la nuit / Le fruit des solitudes (2012; split with Hobo Cubes)
• Tout est jeune (2012)
• Police des moeurs / Essaie pas (2014; split with Police des moeurs)
• Demain est une autre nuit (The Remixes) (2016)
• New Path (The Remixes) (2018)
• Earth (2019)

Singles

• "Danse sociale" (2015)
• "Futur parlé" (2017)

Compilation

• Nuit de noce (2013)

• Official website