Gwendoline

Gwendoline, an underground duo based in Rennes, France, takes the foundational principles of cold wave—a European electronic subgenre that built upon the minimalist arrangements and detached lyrical approach of early innovators such as Kraftwerk—and reworks them for contemporary listeners. Pierre Barrett and Mickaël Olivette established the project to voice their disillusionment with contemporary societal decay and overindulgence, conveying those sentiments with sardonic bite in French. Their first full-length effort, Après c'est gobelet! (2022), yielded tracks such as “Chevalier Ricard” and “Chèques Vacances” whose sonic textures energized the European electronic community while reinforcing the pair’s signature detached, doomer sensibility. Commercial director Joaquim Bayle, drawn to the album, devised a short film centered on the band. Shot in stark black-and-white 16 mm across the French countryside, the sardonic piece—positioned as an anti-A Hard Day's Night—depicts the musicians pursuing greater attention for their work with mounting desperation. Screened at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2023, the film received an honorable mention within the jury-selected category for comparable-length features. In 2024 Gwendoline issued their follow-up album C'est à moi ça, which features standouts including “Héros national” and “Clubs.”