FRENCH HORN REBELLION

OK, we were on the dance floor a second ago, now we are in SPACE and SOME OF US ARE NAKED! Some of us are UPSIDE DOWN and naked, which is not a good look for us! What’s going on? What in the name of all that’s decent and right is going on? Wah! I’m a giant baby looking at the earth like in that flick! Wahhh!

OK, calm down. French Horn Rebellion is going on is what’s going on. A few moments ago, you made the decision to listen to ‘The Infinite Music of French Horn Rebellion’. You took the red pill. In doing so you quite innocently agreed to venture into the unknown with brothers Robert and David Perlick-Molinari and their gleaming French Horn, and now you have to live with that decision. By the way, I’m sorry I had to slap you there.

So. You took the red pill, and may God have mercy on your soul. May God have mercy on all our souls. Who’d a thunk these two unassuming brothers from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who have only released two singles since 2009, yet have
been tipped by everyone from NME, MixMag, and Artrocker to The Guardian, Time Out and French music bible Les Inrockuptibles, could have brought us out this far? Yes, they’ve had a Record of the Week on BBC Radio 1. Of course, an opening slot on the influential Kitsuné Maison compilation series is a big deal. And You know what it means a live performance at Jean-Charles de Castelbajac’s Paris fashion week catwalk show. (It means they, at the very least, saw
some hot models).

But still, you weren’t prepared for this! You didn’t know you were getting into this! Another mystery: How have they found the time to do this to us? Live shows on both sides of the Atlantic alongside Hot Chip, Leftfield, Sleigh Bells, The Drums, Cut Copy and SebastiAn (to name a few) gives you some idea of the last 12 months in the lives of Robert and David. And yet they still found time to go into the studio and create this glitterball-shaped starship.

Initially forced to take up the French horn at 8 years old, Robert developed an affinity for the instrument when he discovered that it was actually awesome. He went on to earn a degree in French horn performance at Northwestern University (in Evanston, IL) and became an associate member of the Chicago civic orchestra. However, as his classical career progressed, so did his dissatisfaction with it; awesome though it is, The French Horn cannot do everything. And Robert wanted to do everything. With this new sense of musical purpose, French Horn Rebellion was born, and Robert turned to his producer brother David.

David was coming to his own creative crossroads. As a budding music producer in New York, he was frustrated with clients who spent too much time wondering about what people could ‘take’—that is, until he produced MGMT's indie release, ‘Time to Pretend EP.’ “They (MGMT) would never pander to people’s expectations; instead they were always playing with them. It inspired me to follow my nose a bit more.” David immediately recognized a shared desire in Robert with French Horn Rebellion, and so their partnership began.