Petite Amie, an exciting bilingual psyche-pop band from Mexico City, are currently traveling across the U.S. on their very first tour, and are making their way towards El Rocko Lounge thanks to Dog Days Presents.
Formed during the pandemic, Petite Amie is the side project of Carlos Medina, bassist for tropical pop band Little Jesus. Medina (now on guitar) founded Petite Amie with singers Aline Terrein and Isa Dosal, bassist Santiago Fernández, guitarist Jacobo Velazquez, and drummer Santiago Mijares.
Their psychedelic self-titled debut album combines Terrein and Dosal’s entrancing dual French pop vocals with the band’s vintage synthesizers, wavy, fuzzy guitar tones, and experimental arrangements, all with the shimmery vibe of sunshine reflecting off of rippling pool water.
Petite Amie are the latest export from Mexico City’s eclectic music scene.
“Mexico City is so big that there are all kinds of tastes,” said Medina. “Whatever music you are doing, there is someone that can connect. There’s thousands of bands from goth to hip hop to reggaeton to rock to regional music.”
“We really feel like there is a growing community of musicians and I feel that we are all really close to each other,” added Terrein. “It’s amazing to feel all that closeness to all these amazing artists and to see what we can do together and what we can create and push towards the music scene in Mexico.”
Petite Amie have found a way to stand out in the independent scene not only by singing in multiple languages, but featuring the talents of two women in a formally male dominated genre.
“When Santiago and Aline and I started playing in Mexico 15 years ago there were certain big artists like Natalia LaFourcade, Ely Guerra, and Carly Morrison, but in the independent, little scene it was all guys,” explained Medina. “And now it’s beautiful. I would say it is half and half. That feels like a new movement and we’re glad to be a part of that because it’s what matters.”
Credit: Courtesy of the band
Credit: Courtesy of the band
Terrein and Isa attended a French speaking school together when they were younger, but didn’t reconnect until they both joined Petite Amie years later.
“Without having any more connection between all those years we ended up in the same band and when we saw each other we were both like, ‘I know you!’” recalled Terrein. “Since then we’ve formed an amazing and beautiful friendship. It’s nice to have another woman in the band because we can give that feminine touch.”
Medina continued, “When we were introducing Isa to the band Aline was like, ‘I don’t know. A girl? I think I don’t like her.’ I’m joking, but the thing of it was it’s beautiful to have another girl because it’s double power and it’s been the real power of the band. The voices and the lyrics, they give life to our project. Before, it was Santiago and me on synthesizers and guitar.”
“It was boring,” Terrein said with a laugh, “Who wants to hear that?”
Medina added, “Two ugly guys.”
Universal languages
Being from Mexico, much of Petite Amie’s songs are sung in Spanish, but Terrein and Dosal found that they were able to tap into something new by drawing from their French education.
“When we started writing songs we realized it sounded sexier and more poetic in French,” said Terrein.
“It was cool for us because it sounded different from the music we were making in Spanish,” added Medina. “It was a creative tool and challenge and I think it works for us.”
Because of their prior music experience (and a lot of pandemic free time) Pettie Amie clicked quickly and were able to get an album together in no time.
“I think we are all procrastinators except [Carlos],” said Terrein. “He’s very ‘Let’s do this now.’ That’s what got us into a crazy rhythm. And then in less than six months we already had an album. Now it was only to plan a strategy for how we were going to release it, how we were going to do that live, what instruments were we going to use.
“It was a weird time to form a band and I think it marked us somehow to have that strange beginning, because we weren’t supposed to leave our houses, we weren’t supposed to be seeing our family, but we were seeing each other, and coming together with all of these mixed feelings and just putting it all out there, and people started to like it. We started playing in new concerts and we a had a lot of help from our label, Devil in the Woods.”
The independent music scene in Mexico City (and everywhere else) is seeing a growth spurt thanks in part to the increasing number of home studios being built. Petite Amie record all of their music at Medina’ personal studio Chimychanga Estudio.
“It’s in the rooftop of a building,” Medina explained. “In Mexico it’s weird, there was these little rooms for the people that helped out with the house work, and they’ve been abandoned since 1990. We made our studio there and it’s been ten years since we put it in and it’s been growing a lot. We’re buying a lot of new gear, so now it’s a nice, I would say, professional studio.”
Credit: Courtesy of the band
Credit: Courtesy of the band
With their debut album under their belt, Petite Amie are ready to evolve their sound. Their “kosmische” new single, “Otra Vez” is fueled by vintage Tangerine Dream-like 70s synthesizers, and is arguably their best song yet. And just this week, Petite Amie released another single called “Rester” that leans into bright 80’s synth pop. Both songs are indicators of more synth-heavy future for the band.
“It’s the face of change from the really raw first album,” said Medina. “We wanted to think it a little more and feel it in a different way. We were making the first album in the pandemic and it was this feeling that I hate. Everybody was dying. I hated it. Now I’m thinking the future is brighter. We wanted to make the new songs more cheerful with a different vibe and I think we’re getting there. ‘Otra Vez’ is the transition.”
One thing that won’t change is singing in French.
“People respond more to the songs in French, even in Mexico,” Medina said with surprise.
Fernández added, “The streaming services give you your data of where your songs are played more and it’s very surprising sometimes. Japan, France, Canada. It plays in places that would be very hard to get to just with Spanish. It’s a bridge between, I don’t want to say cultures, but spaces. Usually you have to play in English to reach other places because it was the universal language. Now, who knows.”
“Maybe Korean will be the new language with K-Pop,” said Terrein.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Universal languages: Mexico City’s bilingual psychedelic pop band Petite Amie travel to Savannah
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