L'Affaire Louis Trio

L'Affaire Louis Trio (L'ALT for short) were an art pop band from Lyon, France. The band formed in 1982, "RFI Music Website http://www.rfimusique.com/siteen/biographie/biographie_6198.asp (2001) ] and in 1986 were signed to Barclay records, France, who released their first album, 'Chic Planete' [ Sleeve Notes, "L'Affaire Louis Trio, Master Serie" Universal Music (2000)] . The members were: singer / bassist Cleet Boris (aka Hubert Mounier), guitarist Karl Niagara (aka Vincent Mounier, Hubert's younger brother) and keyboardist / drummer Bronco Junior (aka Francois Lebleu). In 1987, L'Affaire Louis Trio were awarded the prize for best newcomers at France's prestigious 'Victoires de la Musique' ceremony.

The trio stayed together until 1997, when Vincent Mounier left during the recording of their 1997 release, 'Europium' [ "L'Affaire Louis Trio & Hubert Mounier" http://lalt.free.fr (2002)] . Since then, the band was dissolved, but Hubert Mounier has continued to record with drummer Lebleu on his solo releases, 'Le Grand Huit' (2001) and 'Voyager Leger' (2005). He has also worked extensively as a comic book artist under his Cleet Boris pseudonym [ "Cleet Boris et la BD" http://lambiek.net/artists/b/boris_cleet.htm (2007)] .

tyle

The band's sound was defined by large scale, jazz-influenced arrangements from the likes of big band veteran Christian Fradin and singer-songwriter Benjamin Biolay. Their initial recordings relied heavily on contributions from some of France's top jazz musicians, however, the band's sound was continually refined over the years, with Europium (1997), their last album, offering their most stripped down, guitar-centric arrangements.

Lyrics

Hubert Mounier's lyrics are often witty, containing a large amount of wordplay and puns. His most lyrically ambitious project was L'Affaire Louis Trio's fourth album, "Mobilis in Mobile" (1993) a concept album based on the character of Captain Nemo, from Jules Verne's "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea"

Collaborations

L'ALT worked with notable musicians and filmmakers, including XTC bassist Colin Moulding on 'L'Homme aux Mille Vies' (1995) and Michel Gondry on the video for 'Il y a Ceux' [ "Michel Gondry" Videography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Gondry (2007) ] (1989)

Discography

Full studio albums:
*"Chic Planete" (1987)
*"Le Retour De L’Age D’Or" (1988)
*"Sans Legende" (1990)
*"Mobilis In Mobile" (1993)
*"L’Homme Aux Mille Vies" (1995)
*"L’Affaire Louis’ Trio" (1997)

References