Le Matos

Formed in Montreal back in 2007, the Canadian synthwave duo Le Matos specializes in rapid, neon-hued electronic productions built equally for club play and high-octane film sequences. They describe their approach as “outrun,” nodding to Kavinsky’s 2013 album, yet their output stays bright and propulsive without tipping into camp or self-conscious distance. Jean-Nicolas Leupi and Jean-Philippe Bernier launched the project, first drawing online notice for reworkings of material by Delphic, Cœur de Pirate, We Have Band, and Johan Agebjörn. Visuals accompanied the tracks “88mph” and “58 Minutes Pour Vivre,” while the earliest originals were later gathered on the digital compilation Coming Soon 2007​-​2011. The proper debut album Join Us surfaced in 2013 on the Canadian label Girlfriend Records, augmented by Vincent Menard and Maxime Dumesnil and featuring a collaboration with Electric Youth. Le Matos next scored the thriller Turbo Kid, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2015. Their follow-up full-length, Chronicles of the Wasteland, reworked that soundtrack into dancefloor cuts and spotlighted the single “No Tomorrow,” a partnership with Pawws (singer/songwriter Lucy Taylor). Fantôme Records and Death Waltz issued the set in late 2015, with the CD edition appending the complete Turbo Kid score as its second disc. Death Waltz later re-pressed Join Us on vinyl in late 2016.