On Saturday night, Le Poisson Rouge hosted France’s Deep Forest, who gave their New York City debut performance to a crowd of enamored fans, most of whom seemed nothing short of absolutely thrilled for the opportunity to experience the innovative electronic world music in a live setting. Many spectators had clearly been in tune with the sounds of Deep Forest for many years, recognizing almost every song and grooving enthusiastically at all the right moments, creating an infectious energy of joy and reunion akin to the feeling of visiting visiting a dear old friend.

Spirits were high amongst audience members, as frontman Eric Mouquet announced his intention to primarily cover old material, particularly from their self-titled debut album. They opened appropriately with the title track off Deep Forest, following with many other iconic tracks, including “Endangered Species”, “Madzulu”, and “Sweet Lullaby”, keeping their focus primarily on material based on African indigenous rhythms and samples, with a brief foray into Eastern European culture with “Cafe Europa”. Rather than continuously playing tracks back to back, transitions between songs were marked by an introduction on the part of Eric Mouquet, who provided a brief background and explanation for each coming track. This, along with significant alteration of the lighting scheme for each song, enabled the audience to truly appreciate each individual track as a work of art, and to focus on the complexities of the sound more actively.

Throughout the performance, a visual backdrop consisting of footage from life in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, focused the eye as well as the ear on the performance. The footage was taken from a film scored by Eric Mouquet, to be released this winter. Check out his website for more information.

Ultimately, the experience was made enjoyable not only by the quality of the musicianship, but by the sheer joy that the artists themselves expressed on stage. Their appreciation for their music, for one another, and for the support of the audience made it impossible to not be swept into the feeling of elation, leaving the crowd begging for just one more song after the end of the encore.

This Saturday, July 17, France-based musicians Deep Forest are making their grand debut in New York City, bringing their special brand of electronic-influenced world music to Le Poisson Rouge. Eric Mouquet, Theirry Eliez, and DJ Mark Kamins will be performing their unique and innovative musical stylings that have been popularly described as “ethnic electronica”, seamlessly blending sounds more traditionally associated with world music, electronic beats and progressive concepts.

Deep Forest’s ability to combine native sounds originating from every corner of the world with extremely modern rhythms and high technology production is truly extraordinary and enables their music to reach across genres, appealing to vast audience of all aural tastes and nationalities. This mixing of some sounds that are almost primal in their raw representation of  human existence with the futuristic and cutting edge sounds that are associated with electronic beats creates an almost spiritual vibe to the music that not only makes the body move, but also appeals the soul. Deep Forest has received wide recognition for their artistry, not only in the form of a vast fan base (their albums have sold over 10 million copies), but also in the form of a Grammy Award, which they were awarded in 1996 for their album Boheme.

To learn more about the exceptional audio project that is Deep Forest visit the comprehensive website, and be sure to check out Eric Mouquet’s YouTube channel to experience a plethora of Deep Forest sound and visuals from throughout the group’s existence.

Tickets to what is sure to be an brilliant and unusual event are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, for those 18 and over. Advance tickets can be purchased HERE.