Madame Psychosis are a five-piece, female-led, alt-pop/indie-rock band, based in Toronto, Canada. But let’s talk about that name first. It comes from a David Foster Wallace book called Infinite Jest. One of the characters in the book, Joelle Van Dyne, goes by the moniker of Madame Psychosis. The band loved the name, so they adopted it as theirs.

Then, more importantly, the music. The band tend to say their music sounds like a cross between The Black Keys and Alabama Shakes. Others also mentioned similarities to Metric and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. With a description like that, it’s a complete mystery to me why Madame Psychosis didn’t cross my path earlier than this week.

The band just released their second album Survivor. It contains the great singles Just Wanna Be Myself, Crashing Down, and the most recent one: Kapow. Mindful of the slogan ‘don’t bore us, get to the chorus’, they don’t waste any time on an intro. And less than a minute after the explosive opening chords, we hear the first guitar solo. Furthermore, the up-beat feel-good song contains a catchy chorus that’s impossible not to sing along to.

In Madame Psychosis’ words: “Kapow highlights the pursuit that lies at the heart of getting someone you’re interested in to give you a chance, and the heart-dropping moment of being rejected. This song is easily one of our favourites to perform live with its high-energy vibe. We wanted to create a fun summer song that people could sing along to and we believe we pulled it off.” Like hell they did!

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Werner Schlosser

I’m a music industry watcher and journalist. Worked at a CD club, a record store chain and was editor in chief of an entertainment trade magazine. Have been in the radio business since 1987, producing and presenting shows. Was music director of several stations. Also, I developed the European Border Breakers Chart, Music Moves Europe Talent Chart and ESNS Chart. CEO of Werner Bros. tekst | uitleg.