Avec Sans is a London-based

electro-pop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

group. The band is made up of Alice Fox (vocals, producer) and Jack St. James (electronics, producer). The name Avec Sans is taken from French, meaning: with without.

Career

Avec Sans are Alice Fox and Jack St. James from

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

respectively. Avec Sans started performing live in 2013. They quickly gained recognition for their energetic live shows, which involve

Novation Novation, in contract law and business law, is the act of – # replacing an obligation to perform with another obligation; or # adding an obligation to perform; or # replacing a party to an agreement with a new party. In international law, no ...

launchpads used in tandem tilted towards the audience. Jack has filmed performances using 16 launchpads at once and has helped Novation demo and launch new products online. Press supporters include

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, who said of their music: "it's a sophisticated slice of delicate synthpop with more interesting production touches and melodic hooks than most bands can muster in a career." Other press support for Avec Sans has also come from publications including:

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

, Clash, VH1, Noisey, MTV Iggy,

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertakes ...

M Magazine,

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well ...

Subculture, Artrocker, Digital Spy,

Pop Justice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', '' Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cr ...

Elle Magazine ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

, Hunger TV, Notion, Wonderland and

Tidal (service) Tidal (stylized in all caps) is a Norwegian-American subscription-based music, podcast and video streaming service that offers audio and music videos. Tidal was launched in 2014 by Swedish public company Aspiro which is now majority-owned by ...

who featured them on their electronic music playlist for September 2015. ''Heartbreak Hi'' was listed in

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

''Essential Tracks'' feature in April 2016 alongside the latest releases from Bjork,

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwor ...

and

White Denim White Denim is an American four-piece rock band from Austin, Texas, United States. Their music is influenced by dub, psychedelic rock, blues, punk rock, progressive rock, soul, jazz, experimental rock with home-based recording, jamming appro ...

and was described as "marvellously bittersweet electro-pop". In the 10 June 2016 edition, the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' called Avec Sans "a cut above your average duo… right on the sweet spot between hazy ' 80s Nostalgia and 21st century introspection." Their track "When You Go" appeared on season one of MTV television series ''

Scream Scream may refer to: *Screaming, a loud vocalization Amusement rides * Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany * Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England * Scream! (roller coaster), at ...

''. "Close My Eyes" was used to conclude Season 1 Episode 4 of

Nev Schulman Yaniv "Nev" Schulman ( ; born September 26, 1984) is an American TV host and producer. He is best known for the 2010 documentary film ''Catfish'' and the follow up TV series '' Catfish: The TV Show'' on MTV of which he is the host and executive ...

's show ''MTV Suspect'' and "The Answer" was used on Season 1 Episode 9 of MTV's '' Are You the One?''. Their tracks have also been played nationally across the UK and America in retail outlets such as House of Fraser,

Anthropologie Anthropologie is an American clothing retailer with approximately 200 stores across the U.S., Canada, and the UK that offers an assortment of clothing, jewelry, home furniture, decoration, beauty products, and gifts. Anthropologie is part of ...

and

Banana Republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring c ...

. Full single releases to date include: ''Hold On'', ''Shiver'', ''All of Time'', ''Resonate'', ''Heartbreak Hi'' and ''Perth''; achieving radio play including: BBC Radio London, BBC Introducing, BBC 6 Music, XFM (evening play-listing), Gaydio, Frank Skinner on Absolute Radio and they reached the number one slot on

Amazing Radio Amazing Radio is an international radio station first broadcast originally on digital radio in the United Kingdom. The station plays new music from a number of music genres including pop, rock, indie, hip hop, electronica and jazz. The st ...

with their track ''Heartbreak Hi''. Avec Sans have toured internationally and have featured at a number of music industry events. In May 2015 they played at Canadian Music Week in Toronto, receiving funding from PRS for Music in support of the trip. They played at

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in October 2015 and South by Southwest in 2016. They have supported

Little Boots Victoria Christina Hesketh (born 4 May 1984), better known by her stage name Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter and DJ. She was previously a member of the band Dead Disco. Since performing as a solo artist she has releas ...

Capital Cities A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the ...

Kate Boy Kate Boy are a Swedish synthpop duo from Stockholm. The group was founded by Kate Akhurst, from Australia, and Markus Dextegen, from Sweden, together with former swedish members Hampus Nordgren Hemlin and Oskar Sikow. All members have particip ...

and were the main support for Ladyhawke on her Wild Things tour in the UK. They played live for the first BBC Introducing event with

Gary Crowley Gary Crowley (born 8 October 1961), is an English broadcaster, TV presenter and DJ.Burrell, Ian (2009), ''The Independent'', 9 November 2009, retrieved 2 November 2010 While still at school (Rutherford School, Marylebone, London) in the late 1970s ...

and on the main stage at Bingley Music Live with acts such as

The Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo ...

, Example and

Gorgon City Gorgon City are an English electronic music production duo consisting of two North London producers Kye "Foamo" Gibbon and Matt "RackNRuin" Robson-Scott. Their 2013 debut single " Real" peaked at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart. They are also w ...

and at festivals including

The Great Escape Festival The Great Escape Festival is a three-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and roughly hosts ...

Redfest Redfest was an annual music festival at Robins Cook Farm, Kings Mill Lane, Nutfield, Redhill, Surrey, England. It was established in 2007 as a small (5,000 capacity) independent music festival geared toward youth, with over 70 per cent of its ...

, Sounds from the Other City and

Kendal Calling Kendal Calling is a music & arts festival, held annually at Lowther Deer Park in the Lake District, Cumbria in the North West of England. It has grown from a two-day, 900 capacity event in 2006 to a 25,000 capacity 4-day music festival. Kendal C ...

. The band have remixed artists such as

Swiss Lips Swiss Lips were a five-piece electropop band from Manchester. Musical career The band describe their sound as influenced by the Manchester music scene in some ways but display a wide range of influences. "Finding the middle ground between gui ...

(Epic), Haerts (Columbia) receiving praise for their work from DJ Sasha. Before Avec Sans performed in public, they were asked to design a shoe for London fashion brand Swear. In 2014 their music was used on the catwalks of

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general publ ...

. They have been named band of the year by

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, and cosmet ...

, have been Track of the Day on

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

's Vogue.com and have been featured in Teen Vogue,

and DJ'd for the

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

launch of luxury brand Sandro. In July 2016 Avec Sans released their debut album ''"Heartbreak Hi"'' on Beverly Martel.

Career

Discography

Albums

Singles

Online singles

Remixes

Music videos

References