Paris, France based Progressive Rock band 2BIRDS BAND have unveiled the official video for the single “Top Of The World” feat. Laure Le Prunenec — Exclusive Q&A with PRJ below.
Watch the official 4k music video for “Top Of The World” feat. Laure Le Prunenec via the YouTube player below:
Exclusive Q&A with the band below:
— The concept & the video —
“Top of the World” is now getting its lyric video premiere — but “Flip the Bird” came out over a year ago. Looking back, what does this track represent within the album’s arc, and why did you choose it as the visual statement to bring the record into a new light?
Hello! Thanks for having us onboard! Hmmm, where should I start…?
It took a lot of time for us to release this video for budget reasons and because of the band members’ schedule. I was first thinking about releasing an actual clip with scenario, acting etc… but then got the idea of filming the band live at Festival R4 in Picardie (northern France) in 2025, with added animated lyrics so the viewer could have some fun learning them and/or know what the song talks about. We chose to put “Top Of the World” as the first track within the “Flip The Bird” album’s arc because we noticed it had its very personal energy kick, in addition of being the perfect song to show the global artistic band direction, blending punk, prog rock/metal and 20th century western classical music. It’s also one of our audience’s favorites and resumes a part of the band’s philosophy and album storytelling. We could have done a music video of the song “Flip The Bird” for sure, but this title acts more as a moment of rest for the listener, just after the “Top Of The World” tornado, although it inspired me to create the “middle-feather-finger” album cover design. Featuring my good friend Laure Le Prunenec (singer and leader of Rïcïnn, ex-Igorrr singer) was the last ingredient that brought even more mystery, depth, power and drama to the song. As she was also performing with her band Rïcïnn at Festival R4, I invited her to join us on stage and perform the song with us and got this nice, rough, energetic videoshoot showing the real band’s frenesy, headbanging violins… By only listening to the audio, the audience may think of a more institutional stage presence and I wanted to prove it wrong throughout this clip in order to bring the record into a new light.
— The instrumentation as identity —
2 violins, cello, bass and drums — no guitars, no keyboards. That’s not a lineup, that’s a manifesto. How do you approach writing riffs, dynamics and aggression when everything runs through bowed strings? And how does a voice like Laure Le Prunenec‘s fit into that sonic architecture?
Thank you for bringing the idea of “manifesto” out! Never thought about it! I really want to point out the fact
Our slogan is “THE STRING REVOLUTION IS ON!”. It may have a teasing meaning but it brings us to put back the use of strings into question, on the artistic and social point of view. As the main composer and leader of the band, I spent years (and still going nowadays) searching for new fingerings and bowing techniques on my violin, as well as combining them with external effects (so do we all nowadays in the band) in order to find new sounds. I’m aiming to create a new “repertoire” for these instruments. Why? Because string players from any background and institutions could have fun performing it, because it would bring a fresh vision to the audience about the extent of possibilities, and make them think about how huge unexplored fields for violin and cello are. Even if these instruments got specific attention from the 1930’s to the 1980’s technically and technologically speaking, they are still considered by the general popular mindset and by the music industry as either orchestral background, or soloists in the western classical, jazz, old traditional American, Irish and Balkan music. So the idea is to push this psychological barrier and come up with something that could potentially “replace” a guitar or a keyboard (guitarists and keyboardists friends, we love you!), by inventing new techniques that would fit the instrumental timbers of our favorite artists. How do we approach riffs, dynamics and aggression when pretty much everything runs through bowed strings? It is all about taking classical contemporary music techniques (I know, I’m using this term too much !) and using them on rock/punk/metal styles… not thinking as a string player…but as a guitar player… then perfecting them with pedals & effect if necessary! Many rock string players tend to use effect pedals “to make them sound rock/punk/metal” on some music they create or want to cover, try to catch the energy of it, but then if they get rid of the effects, they will still sound like traditional violin or cello. We are really trying to go the opposite way by crafting specific acoustic sounds on our instruments to make them sound physically different, before adding extra pedal flavours. For example, If we want to reproduce guitar chug, we’ll probably go toward the lowest part of the bow with very short bow strokes, to really embody the sound of a pick technique, then add a blend of acoustic sound and distortion pedal (we’re still in the maze of sound presets, as it is very specific to come up with the best sound!). There is also a way to emulate African or Japanese traditional flutes, as well as acoustically reproduce something close to an electric distorted lead guitar solo by simply placing the bow closer or further from the bridge, switching finger pressure on the fingerboard and switching wrist vibrato to forearm vibrato (I like to call it “vocal vibrato” because it really sounds like lead vocals). Of course, we do also have our bass player and drummer who bring the string section’s wild energy to another level! Their sound blends very well with us and pushes us even further… Concerning Laure’s vocals, here is what I have to say: first, she really has her personality with a unique vocal technique (bloody hell, again…!) mixing lyrical singing and fry. Second, she sings in her own dialect and also loves to create choir tracks by recording herself all voices and layering them, the same way we do with 2BIRDS BAND to create orchestral music. And finally, (I may be wrong, but it’s just my personal feeling on the matter) she treats her voice more like an instrument than a “lyrics machine”, and experiments with it, like we do with our violins and cello. Even if we do have very different artistic personalities, we do have a couple things in common, in addition to enjoying each other’s company very much!
— References and the bigger picture —
You’ve cited a range that goes from Shostakovich to Sleepytime Gorilla Museum to Lamb of God — one of the most interesting combinations I’ve ever read in a press kit. How do those worlds coexist in your creative process? And where do you see 2BIRDS BAND going from here?
Oh wow! Hopefully my answer won’t be too long!
I would answer that this particular influences combination comes from what I’m listening to, living, studying and performing as an improviser, interpreter and composer. I was first taught classical violin but was raised in a neighborhood in Paris where jazz and gypsy jazz were all around. I naturally had the desire of composing and improvising while keeping my classical music learning seriously. Each time I was bored or tired of practicing concertos, I would play along with Stephane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt, Jimi Hendrix and classical Indian music cd’s. It was thanks to Hendrix and contemporary classical violin pieces that I was able to create my “acoustic distortion” sound and my “flutes”. Then I discovered metal in primary highschool though Scorpions, Pantera, Judas Priest, Lamb Of God, Slipknot, Mr Bungle and other amazing bands. Then I kept studying jazz in Paris, Berklee, played for various film score orchestras and discovered Arabic music. I was really into 20th century composers such as Chostakovich, Stravinsky, Ravel, as well as the great film scorers such as John Williams, Bernard Hermann, Nino Rota… It was obvious for me that all of these artists and styles had way more things in common than we could think, energy and harmony wise. I could spend a great part of my life searching for those bridges throughout my instrument, then creating my own music based on this. I started to make these connections and am always fascinated about discovering new crossover artists with similar artistic directions. In 2025, I discovered Sleepytime Gorilla Museum which became a great new source of inspiration, because of their incredible mastery of polytonal counterpoint, punk/grunge and cabaret oriented music, with uncommon instrumentation, choice of timbers and song structures! The topics they’re singing about are as deep and honest as their performances. It’s just amazing! 20th century French and Russian master composers have this incredible sensitivity when it comes to thick harmony, pieces structures, picture different characters and landscapes. But I would say the one whose style is the closest to metal music is Chostakovich. The dissonances and harsh heavy vertical rhythms of his orchestral comping are blending super well with groove metal type of bands like Lamb Of God or any other symphonic black metal band (Emperor, Ihsahn). Having performed his music in the past as an orchestra violinist among other “heavy riffing composers”, it became a dream finding myself on the other “dark side”: as a rock-metal violinist, I wanted to use what I had learned in the past in the past from the European composers, harmonically and rhythmically. Where do I see 2BB going from there? There are so many fields to cover! Creativity, technological and technical discoveries with our instrumentation, new original topics to sing about, coming up with a real light/video show for our gigs (we borrow a lot from film scores and I believe that it would be incredible to achieve this one day!). I want to address the fact that all of this wouldn’t be happening without Gabriel Majou, the person I co-founded the band with as well as all the other guys in the band who dedicate themselves to the project and bring amazing surprises and fresh ideas to complete my tunes: Félix Gerbelot (violin), Simon Lannoy (cello), Sacha le Roy (bass), Martin Beux (drums). Special shoutout to François Longo our live sound engineer who is doing marvels! We’re currently working on a new single that hopefully will be released by the end of 2026 and a new album by 2028. I’m planning on digging what we started with this first album but with a new recording approach, and either with chamber/prog rock-metal or “easy-listening” punk/film score type of tracks (maybe adding electronic music in it?).
Concerning shows, we mostly play in Paris, but I’ll be performing the music of 2BB as a soloist in May at the Rift Festival in Middlesbrough (England). We also will be performing at the BizkorNightZ Fest in Savigny-sur-Orge among other shows. We’d love to come and play in Germany, more festivals and venues across Europe!! Our fan base is growing little by little as well as our team. We’ve been working with Sýna Music and it helps us a lot to organize promotion and other administrative things. We’re still looking for a booking agent/touring agency but I think it will come with time!
The 5 piece band is composed of a very atypical instrumentation, 2 violins, cello, electric bass and drums and has as primary goal to push the musical and technical limits of string instruments as well as to put their role in the whole music industry back into question.
Bowed gusts, explosive riffs, epic harmony and lyrical yelling, 2 violins, cello, bass, drums and SOME NERVE!
In this sometimes overly institutional world, 2BIRDS BAND was born out of the urgent need to create a completely new vision of bowed strings, a world in which they could express themselves without limits! Welcome to the world of 2BIRDS BAND, a world pushing the boundaries of strings!
We are thrilled to take you for a flight into our powerful blend of Prog Rock/Metal, filthy punk with Jazz sparkles and good old film score, somewhere in between Shostaokovich, Mad Max, Mr Bungle, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Lamb Of God. 2BIRDS BAND released in 2024 its album “Flip The Bird” featuring incredible vocals by Laure Le Prunenec (RÏCÏNN/ Ex-Igorrr/ Corpo-Mente/ ÖXXÖ XÖÖX).
“Flip the Bird” is a musical “middle finger” borrowing from Prog Rock, Film Score and Punk, which confronts the absurdity of our alienating social system, leading us straight to our darkest places, referring to selfishness, megalomania, loss of self identity, deep creativity and freedom.
Purchase and Stream “Flip The Bird” here: https://absil.one/flipthebird
Tracklist:
01. Top Of The World 04:37
02. Flip The Bird 07:23
03. Fuck Yeah 04:24
04. Prelude 01:39
05. The Flight Of Icarus 05:52
06. Doors Of Enlightenment 07:26