Formed back in 1988 in Valenciennes, France, around their only current member Eric Dochez (a big fan of THE STRANGLERS who works in a recording studio), their debut single, “Father”, came out on Elefant in March 1995, wrapped in a precious cover-tribute to Le Corbusier, as a highlight to the work he had done to that moment with twenty cassettes released and two videos.

In the beginning Eric was the bass player, but since he wasn’t comfortable with the results of the band he decided to follow as a solo project, with some help of close friends. Fascinated by sound, he decided to play a personal kind of instrumental music, so that could keep him free of any rules (his songs can last from two to thirty minutes), ranging from cold wave to pop, via experimental music, dub or ambient. His style, which he defines himself as “lonely music”, is very from that of his beloved DURUTTI COLUMN, though it isn’t far either from INSIDES, Stuart Moxham or THE SMITHS’s “Oscillate Wildly”. Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, COCTEAU TWINS… a lot of references come to mind when you hear the music of THE VILLAGE, an almost cinematographic music, with an enormous facility to create ineffaceable images.

Discography in Elefant:
ER-154 “Father” Single 1995
ER-1036 “The Village” CD 1997