The first time I saw Le Boom perform live, it was in a community hall on Inishturk Island, just off the coast of Mayo, as part of the Turkfest line up. Dressed in black, they stood perfectly still until a fireball of energy took over the crowd once the percussion and synths kicked in. After their set, people were discussing them like they were pin-ups from the centrefold of Smash Hits magazine. "I just said hi to Le Boom boy at the bar," said one twinkly-eyed fan. "I want Le Boom girl to be my friend," said another. This is a true story.
Well, Le Boom boy and Le Boom girl are Chris Leech and Aimie Mallon and just like those mesmerised fans from Turkfest, we want them to be our friends so we're nominating Le Boom for the position of our new VBF.
Their music parallels the best parts of Cut Copy, Caribou and Disclosure. It's carefree electronic-indie music that's served up with a side of pop and it makes you feel good about yourself. With Leech (25) on vocals and keys, and Mallon (23) working up a sweat on the drums, their music is the reason behind your grin on the dance floor. Or it's the reason for the warmth on the muddy, squelchy ground of the many festival stages they lit up this summer. Going since 2016, they have just two singles to their name (What We Do and Don't Need It Now) but they've been delivering 40-minute sets that feel so full of goodness and nutrition, they could inspire the next model/influencer's clean eating lifestyle book.
For most of 2017, they’ve been pegged as Ones to Watch but for 2018, you should make it your mission to become part of what they’re doing. Go to one of their gigs and throw yourself into it, or you can nod approvingly from the back but it won’t take long for them to draw you in. And if you really want to get next year off to a good start, Le Boom are playing Mother Club’s New Year’s Eve party in Dublin. They’ll be taking to the stage at midnight so if you’re raging you didn’t get the shift, or if you’re fuming that you saw the person you wanted to shift shifting someone else, Le Boom’s music will dull the pain. I can tell you right now that Le Boom are better than a mouldy, drunk shift.
So you now have plans for New Year’s Eve to see Le Boom and a New Year’s resolution . . . to support Le Boom. What a neat little package.
This week we’re unfriending NYE fudgers
New Year’s Eve is a tricky night to plan – if you’re bad at planning that is. The trick to having a good time is to commit to a plan. The key to a successful NYE is to buy bubbly in bulk, buy the ticket for the event, book the accommodation or simply commit to staying in – all without moaning about it. There will always be the handful of friends who turn their nose up during the crucial planning stages and they are the ones who will find themselves without a paddle, way up the creek on the night with nowhere to go. Anyway, ditch those pals. Unfriend them temporarily and go forth and find your own craic. If only there was some deadly gig on that night . . .
