Let’s talk about Angine de Poitrine, the Canadian sentient polka dots who turned some local momentum into international virality and then a world tour — the kind of big trek that sustains a middle-class lifestyle, at least for a little while, even if their parents aren’t Wikipedia blue. While we’re at it, let’s also say some of the quiet parts out loud about trying to make it as a musician in this image-obsessed age.
Music has many metas, but there are a few things that seem to help aspiring artists no matter what. It helps to work hard and have talent. It helps to perform in the most popular genres of music. It helps to be insanely good looking. Lots of things probably help, but today, there are more active musical acts than at any other point in history, and so working hard and having talent is rarely enough.
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Angine de Poitrine play instrumental prog and math rock. That’s a hard sell even if you look like Harry Styles, and while I’m not going to spend too much time on their rumored real identities (spoiler: it’s another Quebecois math rock duo, locally respected but never well known), they probably don’t look like Harry Styles. But as Angine de Poitrine, they have found a way to sell their niche vision. They found a great — and here I’m going to use a maligned word with love — gimmick.
The polka dot packaging and wild-looking outfits are a clever trick, a novel feature. Most people have never seen anything like these puppetry-inspired costumes. It worked! They’re winning prizes and filling up bigger venues. Other talented, hard-working acts should find a gimmick.
Gimmicks have succeeded for a long time, but these days only the visual ones seem to thrive; it’s been years since a Tom Waits, a Kate Bush, or a T-Pain broke into the mainstream after manipulating their natural voice. Still, our short form video era, with its plastic brand of “authenticity,” is ripe for counterprogramming.
It’s already happening. Harder styles of rock are stocked with guys in masks and makeup. And Ghost and Sleep Token come with bibles full of fictional lore, a tactic that Twenty One Pilots have also used to stand out and keep the audience engaged between projects. Chappell Roan’s drag-inspired aesthetic felt revelatory before it became the most ripped-off look on the festival circuit. Sometimes it seems like DJs in outlandish masks are the only DJs left. If you can’t be super hot or super lucky, a good gimmick is the next best thing.
The world is overstuffed with talent that never gets heard. There are plenty of bands with local buzz that don’t get booked outside their circuit, or who earned a Best New Music and went right back to their day jobs. When momentum stalls, what do you have to lose?
There are downsides, mainly that adopting a gimmick is deeply embarrassing. It is an acknowledgment that you want attention, that you’re not naturally cool, that you’re a try-hard, cringe. It is a costly signal that you will do anything to get your music out there. If it wasn’t embarrassing, more people would do it, and it wouldn’t work anymore.
Artists, don’t let embarrassment stop you. If the gimmick fails — and it very well might — at least you tried. You’ll always have the pictures.
If it works, expect company. A fake Angine de Poitrine has already played Moscow in full polka dots, and a Quebec party chain was selling $120 costumes until they got pulled from the shelves. The fake bands are easy to spot, though; their guitar only has one neck. That’s real authenticity, now available in polka dots.