Hailing from Norway but currently producing in Los Angeles, Lemaitre is the electronic duo of Ketil Jansen and Ulrik Denizou Lund. They produce songs in a wide range of electronic genres, from house to experimental, and their musical style seems to fall somewhere between Daft Punk and Pheonix, with strong influences from artists like Justice. Since starting to make music in 2010, the duo have produced seven EPs and the retrospective album Chapter One, which works almost as a “greatest hits” edition of Lemaitre’s early years. Here I will go through the years of Lemaitre’s music and discuss their highs and lows, showing how Lemaitre have developed their sound over the years.

2010

It all started eight years ago with The Friendly Sound EP. Being in their infancy, The Friendly Sound finds Lemaitre at their most experimental and contemporary, particularly with tracks such as “1:18” and the title track, where we are taken through a landscape of interesting grooves and sounds, without really settling on one for a clear hook. The catchy “Blue Shift” and its ethereal choral vocals is the standout and, along with “Strobes Pt. 2“, it would appear on Chapter One in 2017. Whilst the EP is good, it is far eclipsed by some of Lemaitre’s later, greater works.

2012

The duo returned in 2012 with their highly-acclaimed Relativity trilogy of EPs. These featured many songs that really wracked up some attention for the producers, and became the basis for their sound over the next few years.

Relativity 1 came out in early 2012 and featured busy, blurting and at times house-style electro tracks like the popular “Coffee Table” and fan-favourite “The End“. Hardcore electronic fans might see this as might see this as some of Lemaitre’s best, but I’d argue things were only going to get better for the remainder of the Relativity series.

Later that year, Lemaitre released a further five songs in Relativity 2. Continuing much in the same vain as the previous EP, Relativity 2 featured highly memorable tracks such as “Time to Realize” and “Splitting Colors“, two songs that really got me into Lemaitre and are well worth a listen. The foot-tapping “Keep Close” and Uppermost’s remix of “Appreciate” from Relativity 1 (Lemaitre’s first collaboration) are also worth a mention.

2013

2013 saw the conclusion of the Relativity series with Relativity 3. This was without doubt the duo’s best EP to date, and some regard it as their best EP of all time. Despite only featuring four songs and having a blistering run time of 16 minutes, it featured some Lemaitre classics. It opens with the criminally underrated wall-shaker “Continuum“, which included a killer final drop. “Iron Pyrite” follows with an infectiously catchy guitar riff that repeats for more or less the entire song. The EP dips slightly with the forgettable “Fiction“, before returning with a killer EP closer. To round off the Relativity series as a whole is the hugely popular “Cut to Black“. It showed a stark and surprising change in style from Lemaitre’s early days, offering chill piano riffs and a quietly understated melody. It ended up as by far their most popular track at the time, and is even today still up there with Lemaitre’s more recent and mainstream hits.

Relativity by Nite was also released the same year, including a “Cut to Black” instrumental version and and remixes from the likes of Mullaha and Fehrplay.

2014

2014 was a big year for Lemaitre. After the superb conclusion to the Relativity series and having signed with record label Astralwerks, Jansen and Lund decided it was time to take their music in a new direction.

Singularity marked the beginning of Lemaitre’s transformation from indie-house to more mainstream, radio-friendly songs. It opened with “High Tide“, a swaggering jam with some fantastic chord sequences. “Wait” sounds like their most pop-y song at the time, before its transformation to the “dark side” at the end of the song. For me, the highlight of Singularity is the underrated “Go“, one of Lemaitre’s most upbeat songs to date. “All I Need“, featuring American rapper Chuck Inglish, rounds of one of the duo’s classic EPs.

2016

It was in 2016 that these good producers became great. It is here we find Lemaitre at their most prolific, producing two highly-acclaimed EPs in the year.

It started with the legendary 1749 EP, a set of tracks that arrived in the heart of the duo’s “golden age” of music producing. It was lead by the blurting blaster of a tune “Closer“, which soon became massively popular. It wracked up millions of listens online as the soundtrack to Google’s remarkable advert for their new Pixel phone, which drew many new fans to Lemaitre’s music (including me!). It also played in the new year for 2018 to members of the public at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Aside from “Closer“, 1749 also featured some of Lemaitre’s most accessible and pop-y tracks to date in “Not Too Late” and “Day Two“. However, just like “Fiction” on Relativity 3, the EP’s underwhelming closer “Nishio 2” let things down a little.

Lemaitre struck whilst the iron was hot later that year with Afterglow. Fantastic singles “Playing to Lose” and “We Got U” were both very radio-friendly, but “Haze” and “Last Night on Earth” were more reminiscent of Lemaitre’s older days, pleasing many long-time fans.

2017

In 2017, Lemaitre released their retrospective “greatest hits” album Chapter One. It featured many of the duo’s previously mentioned favourites such as “Cut to Black”, “Playing to Lose” and even “Blue Shift”. However, it wasn’t all old music – there was new single “Higher” thrown in there too. Despite Lemaitre’s good form at the time, “Higher” was crushingly disappointing, with a painfully bad chorus. What makes this all the more frustrating is the incredibly promising pre-chorus that is so good its almost worth a listen in itself. One wonders what this song could have become if they had just reworked that chorus.

Later that year three “Higher” remixes were released, as well as a collaboration with Hotel Garuda with the groovy and even slightly funky “Dancing on the Moon“.

2018

We have finally arrived at Lemaitre’s most recent hits, and we see the duo continuing their roam into more pop territory.

They released the single “Machine” in March, a simple and pumped up tune. I loved it, but the Lemaitre fan base seemed less than convinced – many hated the new mainstream feel and missed when Lemaitre were at their contemporary best back in the Relativity series.

“Control“, featuring fellow Norwegian producer Jerry Folk, arrived in April 2018. Despite still being vastly different from the electro beats of the 2012-13 era, “Control” was far better received in the fan community. I too couldn’t get enough of it as soon as it came out, and it is in my opinion Lemaitre’s best song ever. I’m thrilled to see what they might release next, later this year.