Saturday Flashback: Indila – Dernière Danse

“That doesn’t say ‘Derrière Dance’, does it? Damn. Never mind.”

Tim: Straight off the list of “songs to feature as a flashback at some point in the future because we missed them at the time”, this from December 2013, from French artist Indila.

Tom: That doesn’t say “Derrière Dance”, does it? Damn. Never mind.

Tim: Topped the charts in three countries, went top five in several more, and this is all quite good isn’t it?

Tom: It starts a bit like Gotye, so I was expecting something similar — the sudden percussion rather surprised me.

Tim: The opening verse is unusual for me, in that while I’m not much of a fan of the lack of stuff happening, I will happily keep listening – I think it’s the bass notes underneath that give a quite clear statement of intent, which does indeed pay off nicely. Much like Ellie’s track yesterday, it’s not until the second chorus that everything kicks off fully, but it’s very, very full when it does happen which makes the build-up worth it.

Tom: Mm. I’m still not sold on the whole thing: it’s a good song, certainly, but too dark for my tastes.

Tim: You may be wondering about the lyrics; the first two lines translate to “Oh my sweet torment, no point in fighting, you start again,” and it doesn’t really pick up much from there really, though it does close with talking about flying away, so that’s something.

Tom: Yes, that’s “vole, vole, vole, vole”, or “fly, fly, fly, fly” and not “vulva, vulva”. Just so we’re clear. That’s not what she’s singing.

Tim: And as for the video, I watched Thor the other day, so when she knelt down in the street I was basically hoping she’d end up controlling the weather, but since that wasn’t the case I suppose I’ll just have to take whatever nonsensical gubbins they’ve provided.