Les Imprimés in Berlin
Norwegian artist Morten Martens and his band Les Imprimés were in town last Thursday. Playing at Kantine am Berghain, Morten and his guys once again proved that their sound and songs are truly unique. Laid-back, utterly ethereal and with a heavy dose of sophisticated soul, the group mostly played music from their debut album “Rêverie” (2023), as well as a few songs from the upcoming sophomore LP “Fading Forward”, to be released April 10th on Big Crown Records. Morten’s extremely soulful and warm voice, usually more on the subdued side of the fence, and the charming harmony vocals of his band mates, all add up to this really fascinating and unique output.
With tracks like “I’ll Never Leave”, which slowly but surely pushes forward, or the ultra smooth “Falling Away”, both from the first album, the group also showed some pretty grounded interplay, always letting the music and the groove play the main part and with hardly any solo in sight. It was a very coherent and satisfying performance. And the tracks from the new album, six of which have already been released, all sound truly promising, like the slightly thumping “With You” or the magical “Again & Again” and a Hawaiian-themed song still to be released. Favorite cut and more or less something like a crowd pleaser for the group is the highly infectious midtempo soul burner “Love & Flowers” which sure is destined to become a group classic with Morten’s voice once again proof that he truly belongs in the upper echelon of contemporary indie soul.
