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St Augustine and France's new rock capital

Aug11

Written by:aidan
Monday, August 11, 2008 

Straight outta rockin’ Clermont-Ferrand, it’s more of that city’s lovely folk-pop sound. Naming yourself after a Dylan song is a bit extreme as penance, though.

Bibendum, the Michelin ManClermont-Ferrand, in the heart of France, is famous as the home of Michelin. Its local rugby team is cursed with the tag of perennial losers, having reached the final of the French championship 9 times (including the past two seasons) without ever winning. Their best-known player is flying blond winger Aurelien Rougerie (right, looking a bit out of shape).
 
The city is something of a music hub. Le Monde recently called Clermont-Ferrand "the new rock capital of France" and estimated that 7.5% of all French rock bands are based in the area. Regular readers will recognise our favourite clermontois band, acoustic duo Cocoon.
 
The latest folk-pop act from Clermont-Ferrand goes under the weighty name of St Augustine. The 6-piece group take their nom de rock not from the saint but from Judas himself, Bob Dylan – in particular, from the song “I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine” on the album “John Wesley Harding”.
 
Francois-Regis Crozier of St AugustineBut we Dylanophobes needn’t worry, for St Augustine make melodic, unpretentious folk-pop. They have just released their first E.P. and called it “In A Field Of Question Marks”, a title which we reckon is more poetic than the entire works of Zimmerman.
 
It’s a lovely record, tuneful and melancholic. Singer François-Régis Croisier (left) has an Antony-esque falsetto tremor in his voice, and Edwige Mazel adds a subtle layer of cello to the sparse arrangements.
 
You can listen to songs from “In A Field Of Question Marks” on St Augustine’s MySpace page. Our favourite track is called “Icelandic” but a more appropriate song for our times may be “Rainy Country”.

No videos for their tracks yet, but here’s a very arty snippet of film that features extracts of the band onstage at the recent Printemps de Bourges festival. As Saint Augustine once said, “To sing once is to pray twice”:

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4 comment(s) so far...

Re: St Augustine and France's new rock capital

of course Clermont rocks. i'm not from there for nothing lol
best city ever with nothing around so you can relax climbing our lovely mountains and exctinct volcanoes during the summer (and natural lakes in volcanoes when it's 35 degrees are so refreshing) or go skying in the winter. and also you can live the buzz of the city thanx to its 30 000 students. yes it's a lot of students for a small city. i particularly advise to go the cooperative de mai (music venue with an excellent programmation) and if you have time go there in october for the "student week" especially on the boulevard trudaine where there is like 10 bars besides each other and where you're sure to find a local band playing.

By Edith on   Monday, August 11, 2008

Re: St Augustine and France's new rock capital

Two ex-Clermont students I met in Paris also told me about students week. Funny, Tralee is also a college town (like Clermont, the population goes up 25% every September) but there are NO bands here at all, no live scene. I think I'll start my own music festival here this weekend - want to do lights? (And sing and play?)

By aidan on   Monday, August 11, 2008

Re: St Augustine and France's new rock capital

i'll do lights with pleasure. but surely you don't want me to sing except if you want to create some sort of natural catastrophe!
give us a bell if you're around this weekend. i'm going to eurocultured then there's the lovebox after show in ALT.

By Edith on   Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Re: St Augustine and France's new rock capital

i just re-read that: the lovebox after show is on the 23rd not this weekend!
and yes i'm tired.

By Edith on   Thursday, August 14, 2008

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