L'Affaire Louis' Trio (L'ALT for short) were an

art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre draws on pop art's ...

band from

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, France. The band formed in 1982,''RFI Music Website (2001) and in 1986 were signed to

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records, France, who released their first album, ''Chic planète''. The members were: singer / guitarist Cleet Boris (aka Hubert Mounier, who died in May 2016), guitarist Karl Niagara (aka Vincent Mounier, Hubert's younger brother) and keyboardist / drummer Bronco Junior (aka François Lebleu, who died in December 2008). In 1987, L'Affaire Louis' Trio were awarded the prize for best newcomers at France's

Victoires de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

ceremony. The trio stayed together until 1997, when Vincent Mounier left during the recording of their 1997 release, ''Europium''. Since then, the band was dissolved, but Hubert Mounier recorded with drummer Lebleu on his first two solo releases, ''Le Grand Huit'' (2001) and ''Voyager léger'' (2005). He had also worked extensively as a comic book artist under his Cleet Boris pseudonym. He died of an

aortic dissection Aortic dissection (AD) occurs when an injury to the innermost layer of the aorta allows blood to flow between the layers of the aortic wall, forcing the layers apart. In most cases, this is associated with a sudden onset of severe chest or ...

on May 2, 2016 at the age of 53.

Style

The band's sound was defined by large scale, jazz-influenced arrangements from composer Pierre Adenot, the angular pop of English band

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

, and the pop-funk exotica of New York City-based

Kid Creole and the Coconuts Kid Creole and the Coconuts is an American musical group created by August Darnell with Andy Hernandez and Adriana Kaegi. Its music incorporates a variety of styles and influences, in particular a mix of disco and Latin American, Caribbean, an ...

. Their initial recordings relied heavily on contributions from some of France's top jazz musicians, however, the band's sound was continually refined over the years, with ''Europium'' (1997), their last album, offering their most stripped down, guitar-centric arrangements.

Lyrics

Hubert Mounier's lyrics are often witty, containing a large amount of wordplay and

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

s. His most lyrically ambitious project was L'Affaire Louis' Trio's fourth album, ''Mobilis in mobile'' (1993) a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

based on the character of

Captain Nemo Captain Nemo (; later identified as an Indian, Prince Dakkar) is a fictional character created by the French novelist Jules Verne (1828–1905). Nemo appears in two of Verne's science-fiction classics, ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' ( ...

, from

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-Ju ...

''.

Collaborations

L'ALT worked with notable musicians and videomakers, including

bassist

Colin Moulding Colin Ivor Moulding (born 17 August 1955) is an English bassist, singer, and songwriter who was one of the core members of the rock band XTC. Though he was less prolific a songwriter than his bandmate Andy Partridge, Moulding wrote their first th ...

on ''L'Homme aux mille vies'' (1995) and

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

on the video for "Il y a ceux" (1989). The lush, romantic arrangements for their first five albums were provided by Pierre Adenot, while

Benjamin Biolay Benjamin Biolay (; born 20 January 1973) is a French singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the brother of singer Coralie Clément—whose first three albums he wrote and produced—and the ex-husband of Chiara Mastroiann ...

took over arranging duties for their final record.

Discography

The band had several chart successes with singles like "Tout mais pas ça", "Chic Planète" and "Mobilis in Mobile", which entered the French Top 40 during the

1980s File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 420px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ease tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the ...

and

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...

; it also enjoyed some success in Québec. Studio albums: *'' Chic planète'' (1987) *'' Le Retour de L'âge d'or'' (1988) *'' Sans légende'' (1990) *'' Mobilis in mobile'' (1993) *'' L'Homme aux mille vies'' (1995) *'' L'Affaire Louis Trio'' or ''Europium'' (1997) Compilation : *'' Le Meilleur de l'Affaire'' (1998)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Affaire Louis Trio, L' French pop music groups Musical groups established in 1982 Musical groups disestablished in 1997 French musical trios Musical groups from Lyon 1982 establishments in France