# Fievel Is Glauque

Fievel Is Glauque is a musical jazz-pop duo formed in 2018, composed of multi-instrumentalist Zach Phillips and singer Ma Clément, based in New York City and Brussels respectively. They are accompanied variously by other musicians such as Raphaël Desmarets, André Sacalxot, Eléonore Kenis, Gaspard Sicx and Anatole Damien.
The duo has recorded three albums. 2021's lo-fi God's Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess received critical acclaim and led to a stint opening for Stereolab on tour. Their following albums were recorded in studio with a more polished style: Flaming Swords in 2022, then Rong Weicknes in 2024. The band has been noted for their use of improvisation and unconventional recording styles.

## History

Phillips and Clément co-founded the band after serendipitously meeting in Brussels in 2018 after Phillips injured himself on a metal pole; Clément, a friend of a friend, was trained as a nurse and helped provide first aid. The name originates with the band's first saxophonist, Eléonore Kenis, after Fievel Mouskewitz (the protagonist of An American Tail) and the French word glauque, meaning blue-green (as in "glaucous"); or, metaphorically, run-down, sordid, or sleazy. Phillips stated that his "post-hoc rationalized interpretation" of the name was that it was meant to evoke the gentrification of sleazy glauque places.
The band released their first album, God's Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess, in January 2021. The album was recorded live on cassette tape in mono over a series of sessions, with a different assembly of musicians on each track. Their next release, Aérodynes EP, was released in April 2022 and was recorded on tape via overdub. In the fall of 2022, with a new set of session musicians, "Go Down Softly"/"the River" was released, the latter written by Phillips and Sarah Smith as Blanche Blanche Blanche. The success of God's Trashmen led to a tour opening for Stereolab in the fall of 2022. The band ended the tour with the release of their second album and debut studio album Flaming Swords. Flaming Swords is recorded live in one session. They released the single "I'm Scanning Things I Can't See"/"Dark Dancing" in August 2023, accompanied by a short film directed by Joey Agresta.
On August 14, 2024, the band announced their next album, Rong Weicknes, with the release of its lead single, "As Above So Below". Its second promotional single "Love Weapon" (originally written in 2011 with Blanche Blanche Blanche) was released on September 18, 2024. Rong Weicknes, the band's third album and second studio album, was released on October 25, 2024, on Fat Possum Records. The album was recorded by an octet over the course of a week "live in triplicate", a process in which the band layered two straightforward takes of the album atop a third, more improvisatory take. The three takes were then subtractively edited together by mixing and mastering engineer Steve Vealey.

## Style

Fievel Is Glauque's music has been described by NPR as "jazzy, psychedelic pop" and by Pitchfork as experimental jazz. Miles Bowe of Bandcamp described them as an "intricate [fusion] of jazz, pop, and chanteuse music." Their second album, Flaming Swords, represented an evolution in the lo-fi sound of God's Trashmen, with more complex and rich arrangements as well as skits extracted from movies in the style of the Wu-Tang Clan. Their third album Rong Weicknes was recorded using the "live in triplicate" recording method to produce a multidimensional sound in which three recordings, one heavily improvised, are layered together. This created an improvisatory, eclectic style which Pitchfork compared to the band Black Midi, and The Guardian to Black Country, New Road, Julia Holter, Stereolab, and Rotary Connection. The band's lyrics are written in both English and French.

### Influences

Ma Clément listed Blue Bell Knoll by the Cocteau Twins as a particular favorite, and Whitney Houston and Björk as vocalists she admired. Zach Phillips cited Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Royal Trux, Annette Peacock, MF Doom, and Daniel Johnston as inspirations through both their music and ethoses. He also stated that he admired as pianists Mal Waldron and Carla Bley. Other influences include Quentin Moore, Kurt Weisman, Ruth Garbus, and Ryan Power, as well as a variety of visual artists, writers, and philosophers including Christopher Forgues and Jacques Lacan.

## Members
### Core members

* Ma Clément – vocals
* Zach Phillips – keyboards

### Auxiliary members and collaborators

* Derek Baron – drums
* Chris Cohen – drums
* Stephe Cooper – bass guitar
* Anatole Damien – guitar, bass guitar
* Raphaël Desmarets – bass guitar, guitar, backing vocals
* Olia Eichenbaum – backing vocals
* Johannes Eimermacher – alto saxophone
* Thom Gill – guitar
* Davin Givhan – bass guitar
* Sylvain Haenen – guitar
* Faustine Hollander – bass guitar
* Logan Hone – alto saxophone, flute, guitar
* Shoko Igarashi – soprano saxophone, flute
* Jay Israelson – Juno synthesizer
* Logan Kane – bass guitar, upright bass
* Eléonore Kenis – alto saxophone
* Eric Kinny – lap steel, pedal steel
* Billy McShane – alto saxophone
* Roxane Métayer – violin
* Quentin Moore – guitar
* Valentin Noiret – guitar
* Fabien Portejoie – bass guitar
* Ryan Power – guitar
* Pedro Riofrío – percussion
* Daniel Rossi – percussion
* Jean-Philippe Rouquier – drums
* André Sacalxot – alto saxophone, flute
* Hendrike Scharmann – violin
* Gaspard Sicx – drums
* Marta Tiesenga – tenor saxophone
* Chris Weisman – guitar, electric sitar, piano
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Appears on God's Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess (2021).'"`UNIQ--ref-00000034-QINU`"'
* 1 2 3 4 5 Appears on Flaming Swords (2022).'"`UNIQ--ref-00000038-QINU`"'
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 Appears on Rong Weicknes (2024).'"`UNIQ--ref-0000003F-QINU`"'

## Discography
### Albums

* God's Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess (2021)
* Flaming Swords (Math Interactive, 2022)
* Rong Weicknes (Fat Possum, 2024)

### EPs

* Aérodynes (2022)

### Singles

* Go Down Softly / the River
* Clues Not to Read
* Save the Phenomenon
* I'm Scanning Things I Can't See / Dark Dancing
* As Above So Below
* Love Weapon