It’s been inspiring to see the breakout success of an artist like Angine de Poitrine in 2026. While viral success on TikTok has seemed like the only life preserver to truly elevate the career of a rock or metal artist for several years now, this anonymous, mathy Quebec-based psych rock duo instead managed their big break through YouTube. Thanks to a live performance broadcast by KEXP earlier this year, the band even unwittingly created months of revenue for react channels attempting to process what they just witnessed.
Of course the group’s oddball imagery, complete with prominent polka dots, giant cartoonish masks, body paint, scant gibberish lyrics, and more, helped catch the eye. But what helped catch the ear were not only the band’s microtonal antics, but also the way they’ve courageously set out to make more from less. For only two members, Angine de Poitrine manage to achieve mini-galaxies of sound.
That’s something the aforementioned live footage managed to convey so astutely: the group’s absurdly efficient usage of live looping. Armed with a double necked instrument melding both a microtonal guitar and a bass in one, Khn de Poitrine expertly live records loops of scrappy, skronky rock, funk, metal and more, essentially constructing songs from foundation to finish in complete transparency.
The planning and creativity demanded by that alone is admirable in itself, but there’s also a certain level of genius at work as to how these looped parts all interplay so well together, drums and all. Another feather in their comically oversized heads is the implementation of microtonal notes.
While often overlooked in Western culture, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard brought that Middle Eastern style of fretting back into the spotlight in 2017 with their “Flying Microtonal Banana” album. That record had an immediate ripple effect in psych rock circles, but at this point it feels like Angine de Potrine are here to make seismic shifts with their own implementation.
Take the opening cut on “Vol. II“, “Fabienk“. While the initial onslaught of screechy notes and syncopated bass and drums sound otherworldly, the track later blossoms into a guitar-laden dissonant space disco. “Mata Zyklek” meanwhile starts with off-timed plucking and screeches that eventually coalesce into the equivalent of a sonic Katamari. “Sarniezz” sounds like a band ripping through a stoner anthem with faulty machine heads.
And then there’s an outlier track like “Utzp“. Part polka, part gypsy jazz, and all the way off the wall, it also encapsulates the various Eastern musical influences that continually worm their way into the group’s bag of tricks. Think something like the Turkish psych of Altin Gün melding with the hypnotic Tuareg rock of Mdou Moctar and you might get a clearer picture.
Given the nature of how the songs are constructed, much of “Vol. II” is a droning affair in a sense. Bass and guitar parts are given long runways to play out, while the non-looped drums are free to play up the dynamics. As further layers are added, the looping early contributions take on new life, with added notes interlocking in and bouncing around the already established aural substructure, providing new elements of counterplay.
In that sense, much of what Angine de Poitrine set out to do here is exhilarating. Even if it is a rather bonkers way to push past their own physical limitations. Still the end results speak for themselves. The sheer quirkiness of the songs featured on this effort, and the inherent repetition may not sit well with some. Admittedly, neither will the visual gimmick. But it’s hard to not appreciate the level of raw talent and mad scientist approach taken here.
You could argue that they are a sum of various parts, maybe a dash of Primus here, a splash of Devo there, and even some prominent hints of the aforementioned King Gizzard and Altin Gün. Hell, there could be even something as obscure as the funk rock overtones of a band Weapon Of Choice lingering in this motley concoction.
Whatever the origins, the final form sounds foreign, extraterrestrial and most importantly, unique. That it is displayed here with such dogged persistence and passion rather than pomp and pretentiousness only makes it all the more engaging.
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