At the Gramercy Theatre on Saturday night, December 15, the Norwegian electronic-pop band Lemaitre finished up their tour with a bang.
Formed by two longtime friends Ketil Jansen and Ulrik Denizou Lund in 2010, the two named the band after the Belgian priest and creator of the Big Bang Theory, Georges Lemaître. Curiously enough, Le maître also means ‘the master’ in French, though the founding pair did not know the double meaning as they told Interview magazine in 2014. It is an accurate name for them, considering the sound of the band ranges from catchy grooves to electronic house to ultimately create a unique sound. Lemaître is certainly a group that cannot be pinned down into a single genre.
Being a young band with their first EP, The Friendly Sound, dropping in 2010, they climbed the charts quickly. Two years after their first EP, Lemaître released a pair of EPs called Relativity 1 and 2. It was Relativity 2 that reached number one for digital electronic albums on the U.S. and Canadian charts in 2012.
Lemaître took the stage with some psychedelic neon tubes attached to the drum set, keyboards, and electronic set. Even the mic stand was a giant neon light that changed color throughout the entire performance, adding to the rhythmic and dream-like effects of the music. Many of the songs they played were from their most recent album, Chapter One, released just last year in 2017. The most popular songs they played included “Higher,” “Stepping Stone,” “Time To Realize,” “We Got You,” “Last Night On Earth,” and “Playing To Lose.” They even played their new single “Little Things,” a slow, instrumental, and atmospheric ballad. Before playing their final song, Lemaître came out with a bottle of champagne to toast the end and success of their tour.
Closing with their most popular song “Closer,” the audience was sad to have them leave the stage, chanting “One more song!”
