Originally posted to Juniperzine.com on 2/27/20
Deep in the depths of the February blues, French psychedelic pop group Papooz made their stop in Chicago this Monday at Schubas Tavern. February can be an especially challenging month for those living and commuting around the city, feeling so close yet so far from a warm and sunny day. Going to shows can help dull the pain of leaving the safety of one’s apartment, and Papooz took me to a mindset I never expected to find myself in.
Starting off the night was Chicago band Pleasures. While they only have one official release on streaming services, their music and general sound was a groovy and well-matched accompaniment to the headliners for the night. Definitely a band to watch in the coming months as they release all the new material that they played exclusively for those in attendance that night.
As for the main act, there is no other way to describe the effect Papooz had on me other than charmed. Papooz mainly consists of frontmen Ulysse Cottin (lead guitar, vocals) and Armand Penicaut (rhythm guitar). Perhaps it was those thick French accents (coining Chicago as the Wind City), or their genuine happiness to be performing to an American crowd, but it was impossible not to grin throughout the entire night.
Papooz are known for their beachy, carefree psychedelic pop and the crowd came alive during songs such as “Ann Wants to Dance” and “Trampoline,” both off their 2016 album Green Juice. This tour was done in support of Night Sketches, released in 2019, which heavily features bossa-nova style beats and new-wave funkadelics. On Feb. 17th, the duo dropped the eclectic single, “Figs and Garganzola,” which they saved as the final song of the show.
The band took liberties when playing live versions of the majority of their songs, adding improvisational electric guitar and mesmerizing bass solos here and there that made the show especially easy to move to. It seemed as if the entire Lakeview neighborhood was shoved into Schubas, dancing as if we were in a 1960s rave hall. Towards the end of the performance, Armand pulled up a close friend of the band from the crowd to play the bass, at which point the audience went wild and allowed the long-haired fellow to crowdsurf through the 165-capacity space.
Reflecting on the night, I was struck by how committed Papooz was to performing both a memorable and interactive show. Like a dose of Vitamin D, the songs from Papooz transported me into the mindset of a French Riviera town, free from the shackles of wintery madness on the shores of Lake Michigan.
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