From the very first notes of Même Quand Ta Main Quittera La Mienne, it’s clear that Lorem Ipsum have taken their acoustic screamo even deeper into fragile and bruised emotional territory. The EP, set for release on February 7th via Voice Of The Unheard Records, marks a turning point for the Lille-based band — now a four-piece after Bastien Gournay (Tang) joined on drums.
Started without a drummer, Lorem Ipsum initially relied on violin, piano, and acoustic guitar to channel their tensions. “Having Bastien on drums helped us so much,” the band says. “To be honest, we felt like we were missing drums from the very beginning.” Previous albums leaned on electronic textures and rhythmic tricks to fill the void, but these new tracks breathe differently: fuller, heavier, still devastatingly intimate. “These three songs are the first with drums. It’s still Lorem Ipsum, it’s just bigger, fuller, angrier maybe?”
Built around the conflicted emotions of parenthood — from suffocating anxiety to unconditional love — Même Quand Ta Main Quittera La Mienne carries a density that belies its short format. “We find it very frustrating to explore a theme for only one song,” they explain. “To really embody the lyrics and try to give the song a heartbreaking feeling, we like to take our time to think about a meaningful and strong concept.” The result is an EP where each note and each scream feels rooted in something deeply lived.
Formed by “four people who like a lot minor chords, contrasts, and challenges,” Lorem Ipsum are not interested in sticking to genre rules. Violinist Alex comes from an orchestral background, while Max (ex-Elände) handles piano and vocals, Arthur (Dear Liars, Etna) plays acoustic guitar and screams alongside Bastien’s percussion.
Their sound folds in on itself like chamber music falling apart at the seams — elegant at one moment, ragged the next. “We don’t put too much focus on genres or codes, we just trust the process,” they say, a philosophy that’s clearly visible across the restless dynamics of the EP.
The name Lorem Ipsum itself hints at that same tension between meaning and abstraction. “Lorem Ipsum” originally comes from a Cicero text (De finibus bonorum et malorum), later morphed into the familiar placeholder text in design work. “Being myself a graphic designer, it’s a word that I kind of see every day, so it made sense to me,” Max shares. “Back when we were three, we didn’t really know what we were doing, so having a nonsensical name for a ‘fake band’ was not that bad, I guess.”
Carving out space for acoustic screamo in Lille hasn’t been easy. “There is not many bands playing screamo, and as far as we know, there is no other band mixing acoustic instruments and screams in Lille,” they reflect. Still, they point listeners toward local heroes Fall Of Messiah and Tang — groups who, in different ways, also chase that delicate balance between violence and beauty.
Physically, the EP comes as a single-sided vinyl with a screenprinted zoetrope visual created by Vincent Hoquet, adding a kinetic, handmade element to the release that mirrors the music’s intensity.
While brief, Même Quand Ta Main Quittera La Mienne feels massive in emotional weight — an intricately layered confrontation with the contradictions of love, fear, and responsibility. Nothing here is overblown, yet the smallest gestures — a faltering piano line, a cracked scream, the lurch of percussion — land with the force of something undeniable.
