Hot New Talent Alert: Pris

Check out the video for the impressive breakthrough track "Come Undone" by newcomers Pris that set off a flaming red talent alert. Pris is the brainchild of Frenchman Franz Kirmann who named his band after the female replicant from the movie Bladerunner. "Pris is an android, a machine that looks like a human and behaves like one," Kirmann explains. "I thought it summed up Pris' music accurately, computer made but with feelings and soul."

Kirmann played in various Wave and Noise bands until he moved to London in 2000 to study film. He continued to have an interest in music and with a lack of time to put together a band, he just started to tinker with his laptop to come up with a sound.

Together with Parisian producer Ludovic Morin and musician Tomas Almgren, Kirmann produced a bunch of songs that he now wants to take to the masses with Pris. The band also includes Simon Smith on bass and Ms. Rosalita on keys. In the group's biography, Kirmann explains that the band is inspired by classic electro and new wave, but is also influenced by "contemporary dance music and band such as Black Strobe or Colder."

Whatever it is and however you'd like to label it, this is a band with a very promising sound. Pris is slightly comparable to Matinee Club, but a whole lot edgier. Kirmann and his pals know how to put together a throbbing bass alongside a hooky chorus resulting in something that is both angsty and incredibly energizing. (Click here to purchase Pris' single "Come Undone" with the B-side "My Sin" on iTunes.)