Marie Davidson

Montreal musician Marie Davidson shapes stark, entrancing minimal wave both on her own and as half of Essaie Pas, employing analog synthesizers and drum machines to frame lyrics that remain confessional yet emotionally distant and are typically recited rather than voiced melodically. Her first solo outing arrived as the hazy, lo-fi self-titled EP in 2012; three years later Adieux au Dancefloor shifted the material toward greater dancefloor functionality while preserving an undercurrent of tension and shadow. After Essaie Pas issued two albums on DFA that drew favorable notice, Ninja Tune put out the deeply self-examining Working Class Woman in 2018. Although the record found favor in clubs, Davidson stepped away from dance music entirely for Renegade Breakdown, the debut recording by her band L'Œil Nu, which appeared in 2020.

Her initial recognition came through the duo Les Momies de Palerme, formed with Xarah Dion; the pair began issuing material in 2007, and Constellation brought out their album Brûlez Ce Coeur in 2012. Davidson also performed in Sam Shalabi’s experimental ensemble Land of Kush, another Constellation act, and contributed to Matana Roberts’ Coin Coin Chapter One: Gens de Couleur Libres, the label’s first release by that artist. In 2010 she formed Essaie Pas with Pierre Guerineau; the pair started releasing cassettes the next year. She further collaborated with veteran Canadian electronic artist David Kristian as DKMD, beginning with the 2012 EP On the Other Side.

The 2012 self-titled digital EP marked her solo introduction; Austin’s HoloDeck label, which also housed Troller and S U R V I V E, later issued it on cassette in 2013. Weyrd Son Records followed with her first proper solo album, Perte d'Identité, in 2014, and she returned to HoloDeck for the second album, Un Autre Voyage, the following year. DFA released Essaie Pas’ Demain Est une Autre Nuit in 2016, while Cititrax handled the solo Adieux au Dancefloor. Additional joint projects with Solitary Dancer, Not Waving, and Invisible Church surfaced throughout 2017.

After DFA issued Essaie Pas’ New Path in 2018, Davidson moved to Ninja Tune for Working Class Woman. The track “Work It” achieved notable club traction, especially once Soulwax’s remix appeared in 2019 on the Chasing the Light EP and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Remixed Recording. At that point she declared an end to club-oriented work, assembled the trio L'Œil Nu with Guerineau and Asaël R. Robitaille, and the group released their debut, Renegade Breakdown, in 2020—an album that merged disco, folk, rock, and jazz elements.