New Music: Montevideo – Brawn

Brawn will get you hankering for the days when indie music had something to say, and a pointed, passionate way to say it.

The latest single from French indie outfit Montevideo ahead of their Vision EP is lean and lairy, serious about music, even as the lyrics indicate that the band know how to skewer their own egos.

It doesn’t take a close reading to get the gist of Brawn, as we’re brought on a withering takedown of gym culture and the pressure to conform to the world around you. And while the lyrics do reflect on the narrator’s inability to get to grips with expectations, equally it strips back the Instagram and TikTok fakery that makes gym culture look easy.    

Arms, abs, thighs, don’t know where to start
Oil on brawn, it takes all my weeks, I’ve stopped stupid drinking
Legs, hands, calf, I’ve worked but it does hurt- so – much
Gave up on my friends, need muscles before it ends

Laura Brugier and Simon Chapuis make a lot of that happen; their delivery comes from a similar direction to Art Brut and Young Knives, while the tautness of the arrangement almost mimics the stop-start energy of a workout, its repetition adding a flavour of Television and Gang of Four. Brawn may dwell in a different era compared to much modern indie, but the best part of that is that it treats the listener as an intelligent being, able to absorb the reps and sets that give the track such depth.

You can pre-order Vision, which drops on the 16th of October, on Bandcamp. Brawn is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music – for other listing options and EP news, connect with Toulouse-based Montevideo on Instagram or Facebook.

Header photo by Justin Dusserre