Le Concorde

Drawing influence from the stylish romanticism of 1980s U.K. sophisti-pop, Le Concorde is the art-pop project of singer/songwriter Stephen Becker. Between a pair of EPs, Le Concorde's full-length debut, Universe and Villa, appeared in 2005 and was followed in 2010 by House. After a hiatus, Becker's third Le Concorde album, 2025's Second Mansions, found him working with a slew of prominent '80s-rooted musicians and producers, including bassist Pino Palladino, guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr., and members of the Fixx, the Posies, and Deacon Blue, among others. Le Concorde is the second group name adopted by Becker, following a stint in Post Office with co-songwriter Larry O. Dean. Becker, a Northwestern University Ph.D. who grew up in Seattle, released two albums with Post Office -- 1996's Public Displays of Affection and 2001's Chris Stamey-produced Fables in Slang -- on the indie label Spade Kitty Records while based in New York. He then relocated to Chicago and launched Le Concorde. Employing brothers Ellis Clark and Tom Clark of Epicycle as well as Ed Tinley and Dave Cotini as collaborators in the recording studio, his first release under the new moniker was the 2004 EP Le Concorde. It was followed the next year by the full-length Universe and Villa on March Records. The album's lush sophisti-pop recalled acts ranging from Prefab Sprout and the Dream Academy to Scritti Politti.For his next record, the 2007 EP Suite, Becker began working in Los Angeles with former Scritti Politti keyboardist Mike Gamson. The results were to Becker's liking, and he kept Gamson on as a collaborator for the next album, House, which was released by Le Grand Magistery in 2010. Along with Tinley, legendary Chicago house music producer Vince Lawrence worked on the album, which was the project's tautest recording to date, blending in heavier synth bass as well as flashes of rock into a more modern sound.After a lengthy hiatus, Becker, now based in Los Angeles, revived the project and its sophisti-pop inspirations, inviting collaborators such as legendary bassist Pino Palladino, jazz guitarist Paul Jackson, Jr., the Posies' Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, the Fixx's Jamie West-Oram, Deacon Blue's Lewis Gordon, and many others to contribute to the next Le Concorde album. Released in February 2025, the lead single "Corpus Christi"'s collaborators included producer Calum Malcolm (the Blue Nile, Prefab Sprout), keyboardist Roger Manning (Jellyfish, Beck), drummer Ash Soan (Seal, Trevor Horn), bassist Vinzenz Benjamin (ABC, Paul Young), and others. The full-length Second Mansions followed later in the year.
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