Marie Davidson

As a solo artist and as one-half of Essaie Pas, Montreal-based musician Marie Davidson creates cold, hypnotic minimal wave and dance music with analog synthesizers and drum machines, showcasing her intimate yet detached lyrics that are more often spoken than sung. Making her solo debut with a hazy, lo-fi self-titled EP in 2012, her music became significantly more danceable on 2016's Adieux au Dancefloor, while still maintaining a dark, suspenseful atmosphere. Following two well-received Essaie Pas albums for DFA, Davidson's highly introspective solo album Working Class Woman was released by Ninja Tune in 2018. The record became a club success, but she abandoned dance music with 2020's Renegade Breakdown, the first release with her band L'Œil Nu. She returned to wry, observational club material with 2025's City of Clowns, which was co-produced by Soulwax.