En Attendant Ana 'Juillet'

Second album by Parisian quintet released by Trouble in Mind on 24th January

En Attendant Ana is a five-piece from Paris, France who are quietly making waves and gathering further acclaim through muso circles, and the difficult second album shows a broadening of the ambition shown in the debut album Lost and Found from 2018.

Trouble in Mind are releasing the second album also, and it marks the a band going through transition after the addition of guitarist, Maxence Tomasso.  Recorded by Vincent Hivert and Alexis Fugain over the course of one week in isolation in rural France.

Songs on Juillet are ones of hope despite the melancholic tone with triumphant trumpets swelling amid the lyrics of accepting loss but towards a new found sense of self and indepence.

The songs may be about the end of something, yet the beginning of another era - these songs are more focused than the first album, more hooks garner greater attention.

The band admit listening to more shoegazing, dream pop from across the spectrum including the likes of Cocteau Twins, Stereolab, Cate Le Bon and The Breeders; yet the band the album made this listener recall most fondly was the debut album of The Maccabees - a band of joyous infectiousness who could craft a winning tune and perhaps also Bombay Bicycle Club who themselves released a new album last week.

Both those bands share the same line of best fit with En Attendant Ana - a soulful band who want to sing about love, loss and dreams - playing with a lilt and float fitting for a summer sojourn.

This album is already one of the best listens of 2020 thus far, an album full of joy and unbridled ambition that could easily crossover from a niche of European to become an indie staple.

Juillet is released by Trouble In Mind on 24th January worldwide.

My thanks to One Beat PR for the review opportunity.