Martin Dupont, Estetica Noir

XXXI-XIII presents Setmana Santa 2026, a multidisciplinary festival of dark and alternative cultures, with Martin Dupont and Estetica Noir, on December 5, 2026 at the Metronum in Toulouse.

Martin Dupont is a French band playing new wave and cold wave, formed in Marseille from the ashes of the punk movement in the early 1980s. It initially consisted of Alain Seghir, Brigitte Balian and Catherine Loy. After the band's first album, Beverley Jane Crew joined the lineup and, after a few months and a four-piece concert, Catherine Loy left the group. Martin Dupont ceased to exist as a band in 1987. During its short existence, Martin Dupont opened for The Lotus Eaters, The Lounge Lizards and Siouxsie and the Banshees on tour. Created in 1982, the band adopted a deliberately banal name. Their style blends futuristic synthesizers, cold rhythms and dark, sensitive, hypnotic melodies. Unclassifiable despite its association with the new wave, Martin Dupont played music essentially electronic, augmented by a clarinet. It has often been compared to New Order for its enigmatic quality. The band gained cult status abroad, notably in the United States thanks to the Minimal Wave label, and influenced artists such as Tricky and Kanye West. After more than thirty years of hiatus, Martin Dupont reformed to perform live and released the album Kintsugi, recorded in 2022 with the new lineup and co-produced by the American label Minimal Wave and the French labels Infrastition and Meidosem Records. The group is now structured around the original nucleus Seghir/Balian/Crew, with the incorporation of Thierry Sintoni and Sandrine Casado (of Rise and Fall of a Decade and Girls Like You) and Ollivier Leroy (Olli and the Bollywood Orchestra, Contréo, Olli and the Secret Church). A European tour began in January 2023, followed by the release of the album Kintsugi on February 7, 2023, which features new versions of old tracks. This was followed by an American tour in May 2023, visiting San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver, Chicago, Montreal and New York. As part of the 2025 American tour, the group is scheduled to perform at Sanctum Chicago, Substance San Francisco and Substance Los Angeles festivals.

Estetica Noir answers an inner need, a passion: that of writing songs in a world today largely governed by sounds and software. Active since 2013 and originating from Turin (Italy), the group traverses darkwave, art rock, post-punk and synthpop, and has to its credit a self-titled EP (2014) as well as three albums (Purity, 2017; This Dream in Monochrome, 2022; Amor Fati, 2024). Notable experiences include:
- Participation in European festivals (Wave-Gotik-Treffen 2024, Castle Party 2025, Prague Gothic Treffen 2026).
- Numerous concerts in France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Hungary and Italy, as opening acts for bands such as Christian Death, Actors, Frozen Autumn, Norma Loy, Whispering Sons or Zen Circus.
- The inclusion of two tracks in the trailer and the original soundtrack of Riccardo Iacopino's film Al Massimo Ribasso, with Luciana Littizzetto.
- Presence on several international compilations of the gothic scene, as well as on two Italian compilations (one supervised by Ghigo Renzulli, founding member of Litfiba).

Estetica Noir is a darkwave group that is part of the revival of the genre. Fans of Konstroy's DJ sets will no doubt have heard them many times without realizing it.