Ou Est Le Swimming Pool

Formed during 2008 in Camden, London, the English synth pop trio Ou Est le Swimming Pool brought together Joe Hutchinson, Caan Capan, and Charles Haddon. Their first commercial single, “Dance the Way I Feel,” appeared in 2009 and gained further traction from an Armand Van Helden club remix that turned it into the group’s standout success; the track also led to support dates with another English synth pop act bearing a French name, La Roux. Two more singles, “These New Knights” and “Jackson’s Last Stand,” surfaced the following year while plans for a debut album took shape. On 20 August 2010, after the band’s set at the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt, Belgium, Haddon took his own life. Despite the loss, the remaining members issued The Golden Year on Fire & Manoeuvre mere weeks later, packaging the three existing singles with a fourth, “The Key.”