Les Deuxluxes Signed CD

I went to a concert on Thursday night at Club Soda, where the headliners were the Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project, but openers Les Deuxluxes really stole the show in my opinion (though my friends who are huge QRBP fans might disagree).

They were reminiscent of The White Stripes because (wait for it...) they're a two-piece, riff-based blues-rock band (yes, the same criticism I face at nearly every show), and they're a woman and a man as well, so the comparisons are obvious. Too obvious. Too easy.

Here, the drums are played by Étienne Barry - the one with natural facial hair. And it's mostly just the bass drum, as he plays lead guitar as well. He keeps things steady and on pace, and can be aptly described as ''band leader'' or ''maestro'', but the true star is frontwoman singer and guitarist Anna Frances Meyer, whose powerful voice, fine guitar chops and moves just mesmerize.

She is strong, energetic, confident, a terrific crowd leader, captivating, compelling and sexy as all hell let loose.

I met them after the show and purchased their EP, which unfortunately isn't up to par with where they're at in terms of power, energy and presence at this time, and they signed it for me in gold sharpie:

It's not bad by any means, but if we're going with the White Stripes comparison, it's like measuring The Big Three Killed My Baby off their eponymous first album (1999) next to Seven Nation Army (2003) or Icky Thump (2007).

I hope their next release catches their primal intensity a tad better and sounds maybe a little dirtier, in the vein of their newly-released French-language Christmas single (in which Barry sings lead).

And perhaps we can one day share a bill and they can upstage me as well.