Petite Amie, with a French moniker yet hailing from Mexico City, gave us DC denizens a fine evening of psychedelic dream pop by way of a nearly sold out show at Pie Shop on Friday, August 26th.
They just completed a month-long tour to showcase their first album, a self-titled affair (via Park the Van Records) released in 2021. Their foray to Pie Shop was the third to last show of the tour.
As a recently formed band, this was their first live performance in DC, and honestly, we can only hope it turns out to be the first of many! You could see and hear the polished ease in which each band member performed their duties, and you would be hard pressed to guess they had just formed in 2020.
Guitarist Carlos Medina started the band, which includes vocals by Aline Terrein and Isabel Dosal, bass by Santiago Fernández, and guitar by Jacobo Velazquez.
Ellos comenzaron (they started) their 9-song set with “Vraiment”, a funky track with not an unreasonable amount of tambourine. A majority of their lyrics are smoothly delivered by either Aline or Isabel in their native Spanish, often singing together in harmony to powerful effect. Aline also held court over the two prominent keyboards front stage.
Next came “El Delirio”, an upbeat song, yet is about an existential crisis from despite being able to see a new destiny, you are constantly being dragged back to reality.
If you need a ‘good way to tell your ex to fuck off’, then their single “C’est Pas Moi”, should fit the bill. For this song in particular they sang in French. It pulses with a slow groove, and is very keyboard forward.
Midway through, they wanted to know if we were ‘ready for something a bit more intense?!’, and obviously we were, so they put us on notice with “Sumérgete”. The lyrics speak to letting go and surrendering to the moment. They didn’t lie, as portions of song did get intense, and gave the band members a chance to do a light dose of head banging during the climatic chorus, along with a few in the crowd who possessed that level of fortitude.
The penultimate song was “Elektro”, probably my favorite song they performed. Isabel led vocal duties for this full on dance number, and as the compellingly funky notes floated over us, there wasn’t a upper body holding still in any corner of Pie Shop.
They ended their set (no encore) with “Adiós”, a tranquil farewell letter to someone that you’ve grown apart from, and what you have to give would be better suited to give to someone else. As the music progressed, the lyrics faded and each band member jammed in their own space, which proved to be a worthy ending to an excellent set.
I highly recommend that you get a copy of their album, Petite Amie, and give yourself some room to move as you listen with satisfaction. Every song they performed at Pie Shop was from the album. They do have a couple new singles out as well, including “Otra Vez”.
Hopefully they will plan another trip to DC soon, so be on the look out!
Setlist
- Vraiment
- El Delirio
- C’est Pas Moi
- Refugio
- Reviens
- Sumérgete
- Post Punk
- Elektro
- Adiós
A DC Journey 