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It's hard to pin down Faux Real. The Franco-American duo, comprised of brothers Elliott and Virgile Arndt, have been steadily broadening the scope of their project. Their high-octane DIY performances, involving matching cut-up boiler suits lined with fringe, barefoot dance routines, and crowd-splitting high- kicks, are taking on a more established and ever more unhinged form — think Iggy Pop meets campy Eurodance boyband.

Humble beginnings between Paris and London birthed their first self-titled EP in 2020. Dubbed “Anti- Rock” by early onlookers, Faux Real showcased a keen ear for hooks and anthemic songwriting. The ensuing pandemic had the pair looking inwards and digging their way into a glossier pop sound.

This is how Faux Ever was born. An existential opus with a glistening digital sheen that they began writing at their grandfather’s house in Provence, one of the few places the duo have been returning to over the years for inspiration. Exploring themes of pastiche, hustle culture, anxiety and authenticity with an often brutalist sound — and en franglais (s’il vous plaît!) — the band of brothers cite a broad range of references from Talking Heads to Björk, from the outsider ballads of Tommy Mandel to fellow Franco- American bard Joe Dassin, from 90s Eurodance to Prefab Sprout, the California-drenched synth bangers of Mylene Farmer to experimental pop futurists Art Of Noise or industrial dance duo Chris & Cosey. With a healthy dose of vocal harmonies and humor, as well as more refined songwriting, Faux Real have thrust their sound into a new sonic realm while staying grounded in pop principles.

“When we started, the project had a rock-leaning thing to it because that’s what we knew how to do. But as we started playing live shows, our bare-bones approach bled directly into the new music because we were thinking about it in that format, rather than as a full band. There's a gesamtkunstwerk vibe to Faux Real, where our videos, live shows, artworks, social content and music are all very self-referential — even the way we dress everyday — it all forms this weird ecosystem”, says Virgile.

Born in Paris, raised in Luxembourg, and spending their adult life between Paris, London, and Los Angeles, Faux Real are no strangers to making sense from mess. In this respect, their breakthroughs in production, as well as writing and arranging, makes the music as emotive as ever — chalk it up to the isolation that birthed the album. The result sees them as stripped-down sonically as they are on stage. “Our sound has never been more personal” says Elliott. “The method to this specific madness has been one of constant change, with our studio locale never fixed, always more minimal than the last, and our music as the only constant”.

Recorded between Paris, Provence, London, New York, and Los Angeles, Faux Ever is the boiling down of countless demos, and honors Faux Real’s love of puns. Opening track and initial single “Faux Maux”

(a play on the acronym for “fear of missing out” that doubles up as French for “fake aches”) is an ode for the introverts who revel in the comfort of staying in and missing the party. They’re unafraid of injecting silliness with severity: songs like “99 Ghosts” and “Walking Away From My Demons” address psychological turmoil with deadpan humor. The contradictions between order and chaos, between the visceral and the artificial — that’s where Faux Real truly shines.

Minimalist as their process was, it wasn’t all solitary. The boys tapped two of their friends as co-writers: Chrome Sparks (floaty flute track “Love on the Ground”) and MOSSS (“Sketches of Pain”). In the midst of making Faux Ever, the pair also collaborated on new projects with Adan Jodorowsky, Beck, Metronomy and Jaakko Eino Kalevi. Otherwise, it’s all the Arndts, as it has been from the start. Some might say they’ve committed to the bit.

“Faux Realism started as a mission to exteriorize our inside jokes and has become an all-encompassing pursuit, an obsessive deep-dive that has been creating itself through us.”

At the core of Faux Ever, Elliott & Virgil interrogate what constitutes “real” art, and seek a home within their practice. They have built an entire philosophical framework, acting as a duo of alternative jesters infiltrating the pop space. Toeing the line between undeniable pop potential and an off-kilter flair lies at the core of everything they do. That said, no one really knows what is real and what is faux, and that’s the magic of it all.