Agar Agar

In Agar Agar’s music, one single song can encapsulate sounds from the Eighties (synth-pop, new wave…) and special effects from our modern world. The mood can be tense and dark, or romantic and surreal. This is what happens when a band puts pop music and techno on the same pedestal. A sultry female voice glides above an intricate backdrop of electro beats. Singing in English, this intriguing voice belongs to Clara Cappagli, a 25 year-old who enjoys working with machines. The other half of Agar Agar is Armand Bultheel, 27, also in charge of synths and machines. They met in 2014 at an art school near Paris, where they were both students, creating videos and music in their workshop. The first show they played together took place in the school’s cafeteria to celebrate the librarian’s retirement. Agar Agar was born at this informal party and they soon released the Cardan EP.

Four years after this improvised show, Clara and Armand have become professional musicians. In September 2018, they released their first album via the French independent label Cracki Music. The artwork was made by Keith Rankin, a visual artist who understands their visions – the cover represents a dog surrounded by an abstract, futuristic landscape with primary colours. It perfectly fits the title of the album, The Dog and The Future. These ten songs bring to mind a certain nostalgia, mixed with a curiosity for tomorrow. A strange, evocative dream, like a David Lynch film, obsessed with the early Warp catalogue and the infinite possibilities of pop music.