La Femme Pendu

Whether the prospect of a Friday the 13th leaves you white-knuckled, triskadekaphobic, clutching at your lucky talismans, or if you consider it an auspicious date brimming with sanctified energies and bakers dozens, either way, there are vibes a-plenty.

The vibe today, this Friday the 13th of November, in this strange sideways-smiling, bad-blooded hurricane of a year? I’ll set the atmosphere:

“The witch emerges from the swamp with a new spell, a memory of Southern gothic melodrama. Songs about bad weather and broken glass, with something to drink and at least a few street names to help you and your way around. Cajun witchcraft infused with world rhythms and an albino alligator. Mix your Sazerac and come to the conjuring.”

We’ve written extensively about the gloomy diableries of La Femme Pendu, –the gothic alter ego of multi-hyphenate artist Allison Scagliotti–and the crooning of her dark, unsettling secrets into your trusting ears whilst twisting your tender heart. It with great excitement then, that we share this spellbinding chanteuse’s new offering today: The Legend Of The River King, a Southern gothic blues/world music record inspired by memories of New Orleans.

Written in the hot and deathly still weirdness of quarantine and produced from a safe distance, La Femme and Grammy-nominee Dave Darling met for weekly recording sessions to build this evocative five track EP (the first of two) with guest artists supplying their tracks via home recording.

For those who had previously enjoyed the eerie French lounge horror ballads of La Femme’s first full-length record, Absolute Horror, I believe you will equally appreciate her most recent effort, a waterlogged Southern gothic folktale of bad weather and beasts, somehow both jaunty and portentous, frisky and fatal. If Absolute Horror was a corner booth at an avant-garde, infernal midnight cafe, The Legend Of The River King is a haunted pub crawl at the veil of dusk, through an old city filled with history, mystery, and a lingering spirit or two roaming the avenues alongside you. - Haute Macabre

In the fall of 2019 we had the unholy pleasure of having interviewed the enigmatic La Femme Pendu to learn more of the mysterious inspirations she sang of her in her four-song demo album, All Of Them Witches. This spring equinox we are thrilled to share that her full-length album, Absolute Horror (completed on a Friday the 13th of this strange decade) is available for digital preorder today, and out on vinyl and digital download on 5/1.

It is worth noting that Bandcamp, in an effort to raise more awareness around the pandemic’s impact on musicians everywhere, is waiving their revenue share on sales tomorrow, Friday, March 20 (from midnight to midnight Pacific Time), and rallying music lovers to put much-needed money directly into artists’ pockets.

Described as “Satanic Jane Birkin, or Françoise Hardy alone in a graveyard at midnight”, La Femme Pendu sings smoky parlor ballads lyrically inspired by classic horror cinema. Ranging from Dracula to The Witch, from Rosemary’s Baby to Suspiria, each song illuminates the journey of iconic female characters of the last century of horror. The demonic feminine in heavy reverb. The twelfth card of the major arcana. The gothic alter ego of multi-hyphenate artist Allison Scagliotti.

Last autumn I wrote that listening to La Femme Pendu “… evoke[s] the feeling of sitting alone in an infernal coffee shop, drinking the most bitter espresso, and being the sole audience for a mysterious entity and her unholy instrument. Her eyes are piercing me until there’s nothing left but fragments of shadow and the phantom of her song.”

An initial listen to Absolute Horror recalls the sinister, shivery imagery/energies of All Of Them Witches, but really, you could swap out the gloomy diableries of that midnight café for any venue of your choice, either draped in smoke and shadows or bathed in incandescent, otherworldly light. La Femme Pendu is the evocative, provocative constant, a devilish chanteuse resting on your shoulder as you make your way between life’s contrasts, eternally crooning her dark, unsettling secrets into your trusting ears and twisting your tender heart. The stories woven into her bewitching melodies linger not only in eerie echo, but remain bound to you, roaming and reverberating vaporously alongside you as you traverse the chiaroscuro pathways of this world, their melancholy songs never far from your mind. - Haute Macabre

I can’t remember the last time I tuned into new music that I’ve been really excited about. Ages ago, in another life when I had more time on my hands, I used to schedule a weekly ritual of compiling a playlist of new-to-me music, and I’d post it up over on 8tracks. I remember asking myself on more than one occasion, “hey, so, if you’re constantly roaming for new music…when are you going to settle down and listen to the stuff you know you already like?” Well, that happened in early 2018 or so, and ever since then, I’ve been in a bit of a rut, listening to the same two Lana del Rey albums over and over again. Maybe it was a cry for help. (I still love you, Lana!)

On the day of this year’s midsummer solstice, however, Sam shared a link with me to La Femme Pendu’s debut album, All Of Them Witches, and just like that, I was obsessed all over again with music and how a marvelous song can thrill my very soul. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite like La Femme Pendu’s sound. Described as “French lounge horror ballads” and the “demonic feminine in heavy reverb”, it evoked the feeling of sitting alone in an infernal coffee shop, drinking the most bitter espresso, and being the sole audience for a mysterious entity and her unholy instrument. Her eyes are piercing me until there’s nothing left but fragments of shadow and the phantom of her song.

I knew I had to find out more. For you! I did it all for you! My fellow lovers of music, and song, and dark-hearted devilkin! Also, okay, I did it for me because as you well know, I am nosy as hell. See our interview below, with the mysterious La Femme Pendu, whom you may know from other media and artistic roles…but I am not going to give too much about that away! Sometimes mysteries are nice, don’t you think? And it’s a lovely adventure to poke around and do a little digging and find things out for yourself. Hopefully below we reveal just enough to leave you wanting much more… - Haute Macabre