Loupe - Flaws of a Circle EP

indie pop

Excelsior Recordings

2024

Loupe’s serene, melodic indie pop felt ephemeral at first but drew me back over and over again. Flaws of a Circle is warm, lovely and severely addictive

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I first heard Loupe as a feature on Good Kid’s Acoustic Kid EP. On their song Madeleine, Nina Ouattara turns it into a duet:

The original of that song is brilliant, and Ouattara’s voice adds depth and dimension to it. Turns out Loupe is a pretty great band as well.

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Here’s the lead single “Tested Waters” from their latest EP, Flaws of a Circle, released in May of 2024:

Flaws of a Circle took a while to grow on me, in the same way that the releases from Quiet Houses and Better Joy did: gentle songs that are technically complex with a memorable chorus, that feel familiar on first listen and quietly draw me back until I realize that I’ve listened to the EP three times in a row.

The title track of the EP is another example of this: it starts simple enough, almost like a melancholy, downtempo trip-hop song, but the noodly guitar, busy drums and layered climax of the song brings it to full earworm tier:

The last song in the collection, “Forest of our Memories”, is long by today’s standards at 5:36, and has a strong Fleetwood Mac feel to it, especially on the extended outro with the repeated vocal:

Loupe is from Amsterdam, and though they’ve released a full-length album previously, this is the first with Nina as lead singer. Her arrival seems to have been accompanied by a shift in sound and songwriting style. Their prior release, 2023’s Do You Ever Wonder What Comes Next? is a much more straightforward indie-pop record, without several of the engaging qualities of Flaws of a Circle.

One last heartwarming thing: In this post, the band’s wildly talented guitarist Abel talks about coming out as trans, with a new name and pronouns. It’s a brave and difficult thing to do (I’ve seen it firsthand with someone I love) and the band (and fans, it seems) was supportive, to the point where Abel felt comfortable doing a Youtube Q&A on the whole thing. It’s inspiring, and doubly so since Abel really doesn’t seem comfortable with the camera’s focus on them.

Their Instagram is teasing the upcoming record pretty regularly, and the pieces of songs that they’ve shared there sound great.