Parisian trio Oracle Sisters released their debut EP, Paris I earlier this month via New York independent label 22Twenty. Mixed by Noah Georgesen (The Strokes, Marlon Williams), the EP is an ode to their adoptive home and its imagined futures.
Over the past twelve months, in the build up to the EP’s release, the band have worked to build up a loyal and global following, all whilst blurring the lines between music and visual arts. To that end the band have found themselves working closely with Hedi Silmane & Celine in a visual and musical exchange of friendship. The trio, have even released a striking visualiser to accompany their recent single “Honest Man”.
The band, whose members hail from across Europe, draw inspiration from a wide range of sources, including art, cinema and philosophy. Indeed the EP’s title, Paris I, is inspired by photographs of the Paris world fair of 1900.
To celebrate the EP’s release, band member Lewis Lazar has curated a short playlist for us, with tracks which influenced five of the EP’s six tracks.
“Honest Man” / JJ Cale – Troubadour
In the end, we went high. But, the original composition was low vocally after a rowdy evening in Paris, waking up with a guitar and husky voice and listening to a lot of JJ Cale at the time. The song rolled out in an hour with these kind of bluesy twists. But, this is another song that can have many versions and ways of being played. Standout tracks “Cherry”, “Let Me Do It To You” and “Hey Baby”.
“The Vibes” / Jesus and the Mary Chain – Psychocandy
Particularly the song “Just Like Honey”. This dreamy cacophonous aromatic romantic journey appealed to us. Live we use a similar guitar sound for the ending when it all builds with a sharp London-made Fuzz pedal. I liked the ability of Jesus and the Mary Chain to be really bold with their sound. It’s something I think we could have pushed even further but the ending is a nod to that sublime cacophony.
“High Moon” / Joao Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil “Aquarela Do Brasil”
The song has a heavy Bossa Nova influence with the chords and changes. Julia was immersed in that stuff for a while, then later inspired by Henri Salvador and the song “Syracuse” while finishing it.
We also travelled up harmony row with this one, listening to the four freshman early stuff. Ulysse from the band Papooz had revealed some of these tracks to us. Brazilian mystical barber shop song kind of thing. Standout track “Milagre”
“Asc. Scorpio” / A Tribe Called Quest – The Anthology
We set out to write this song thinking of early 90’s hip hip, particularly A Tribe Called Quest. It was written with just a drum machine, we were really thinking about the marriage of the beat and the bass as a skeleton to sing over melodically. “Electric Relaxation’ features this with the flow on top”
“Most of All” / The McPeake Family – Wild Mountaine Thyme
This melody was sourced in the love of old Irish Melodies. We got country with it, but that’s life.. The truest root to this origin is the McPeake family, a northern Irish family of singers that go back generations. The recordings on this album are timeless and haunting. Listen to “Eileen Eiroon” and “Carriag Dun”. Songs that will forever be songs and never grow old. They could be sung by an Ancient Greek as much as an Irishman.
Oracle Sisters’s debut EP Paris I is out now. You can keep up to date with the band via Facebook and Instagram.
Header Photo by Ugo Bienvenu.
