from the 12” single, Endless Summer Recordings, 2009Nantes may initially seem an unlikely locale to foster one of the biggest chill-wave scenes on the globe, but anyone who grew up near the water won’t be terribly surprised when you do a Google Maps search of Nantes and find that it sits upon the mouth of an inland waterway from the Atlantic Ocean---there is something about a large body of water that lends itself to this song’s sense of abandon, the debut 12” from Valerie collective duo Jupiter (Quarles Baseden and Amélie de Bosredon). While I admit that the cheese factor here rides a fine line, it’s got just enough drive in the pocket to keep things minty fresh instead of sugary sweet; where Sally Shapiro edges towards the trance end of the spectrum, Jupiter strays determinedly in the direction of ‘80s italo and post-disco, tossing us a warm bone from the humid French coast. Truly, when considering the universally breezy nature of this track, the name of the record label in question couldn’t be more accurate. Vive Valerie!!!
