(August 2010) Anna Logue have once more looked into their crystal ball and found something lost but not necessarily forgotten. Poeme Electronique are a British new wave outfit. In many ways they were quintessential of the time and sound. A quartet, split 50/50 male and female. Stylish and confident the foursome have a look that immediately calls up images of the Human League. But, Poeme Electronique faded away as soon as they had appeared. The group had one release, a 7″ on Carrere Records. After that they seemed to vanish, leaving only two tracks of synth pop gold in their wake. David Hewson continued to sporadically release electronic material, but the rest of the band left the world of music, until recently. Anna Logue have tracked the group down to put out their first full length album, Echoes Fade, named after the band’s 1982 classic.
In 2008 Anna Logue first managed to hook up with Poeme Electronique, releasing a 7″ by three of the original band members under their Twins Natalia pseudonym. For the album a veritable hoard of unreleased material has been brought together for the first time, fourteen tracks in total. “Rendez Vous” starts the audio ball rolling and a question immediately arises, how did these guys not get further than one 7″? The track is driven by powerful vocals and a hypnotising chorus, with simple synthesizer notes given the piece a deep analogue ballast. It is a track that has a familiarity to it, but this is simply due to the production quality and the addictive quality of it. “Follow” is up next, and the power of the vocals is back in full swing, soaring above soft beats and gentle keyboard taps. Political commentary begins to creep in with “My Complicated Personality”, as Poeme Electronique broach historical myths with the aid of a vocoder and a host of Korg synthesizers. “It’s in the Atmosphere” is the epic of the album, at over seven minutes it brings the listener across a wide expanse of synth and vocal abstraction. The catchy “Fragile” follows, the original version recently featured on the Attractive Too mini-compilation. As the album progresses you could swear that these tracks have somehow found their way into your ears before. The toe tapping “She’s an Image”, with its wonderfully English vocals, is a piece of pure synth pop. The majority of tracks are upbeat new wave numbers but some do stray down the more despondent line, such as the slower tones of “A Mourner’s Lament” or the anti-futurist notes of “Atoman.” The best known is left to last as the “Echoes Fade” resurfaces almost three decades since its first release. The vocals are again at the centre of the piece, powerful and forceful melting into melody with synths adding a scaffold to this organic strength.
Synth pop has a loose formula to it. Classically it is a two person set, synth player and a vocalist. Poeme Electronique doubled up on the numbers, but they did make their tracks using the same strands as other 1980s electro pop groups. Strong vocals were key, as were clever synthlines. Content was important too, the tracks couldn’t be full of any old nonsense and hope to get appreciated. Look was part of it. Poeme Electronique may not have had as intense a complexion as the likes of Strange Steve but they did have an image –and the formula is only that, the important element is the execution; something Poeme Electronique achieved, and achieved very well. So why did the group dissolve and find themselves in synth pop obscurity? It’s a difficult question, and there may not be an answer. But at least now you can ask yourself while enjoying Poeme Electronique beyond the two tracks of their ’82 7″.
Echoes Fade is out now on Anna Logue. [Listen | Purchase]
