Photo by Mica Elig

Papooz are an unlikely indie-funk duo with disco tinges hailing from France. Since 2016, they’ve been releasing music under the name. On Wednesday 2/19, they played to an eager crowd at Somerville’s ONCE Ballroom, where a modest group of fans gathered to escape the cold and ignore the Democratic debate that preceded the Nevada Caucus. Most of the concert-goers probably left happy with their choice of activity for the night. Originally from Paris, the band is centered on duo Ulysse Cottin and Armand Penicaut, who both play guitar and swap vocal duties. Joining these two onstage for the performance was a tight three person rhythm section that held it down. 

Local psych-rockers Lucid Lynx got things underway with a nice sampling of their catchy, riff-heavy rock that took cues from the likes of Led Zeppelin and more modern psychers like Tame Impala. Like their French headliners, these fellas got started in 2016 when they met at Berklee. The group just got back from a winter tour of the West Coast and should have more dates coming up soon. 

In their live performance, Papooz has fun and doesn’t take themselves particularly seriously, delivering infectiously catchy dance tracks with a nonchalance befitting a band that has songs with titles like “Chubby Baby,” “Figs and Gorgonzola,” and “Louise, My Girl Looks Like David Bowie,” all of which got some playtime at the show. The show wasn’t all disco and dance vibes, as Papooz proved the longer their set went on. During their encore, they slowed things down by playing a small platter of some of their more easy-going tunes that pulled from bossa nova jazz and the classic boogie of Chicago blues. 

While ONCE was hardly packed, the enthusiastic crowd that did brave the cold to make it out was in full swing with the danceable tunes the band laid down. And Papooz played off this energy with synergistic aplomb. The highlight of the night was when they invited one lucky audience member onstage to “play bass” on a song, which consisted of the chosen young woman striking one note repeatedly over the duration of the track’s three minutes (a perfectly acceptable disco bass line, frankly). 

If you get the chance to catch Papooz along their current run of tour dates – or if they return to Boston in the near future – be sure to make it out to see them, if getting down is your type of scene. Their new album Night Sketches comes out on March 8th.