They're an accountant and a PhD student who grew up in the French-Canadian city of Montreal. With all their academic accolades and upbringing you could be forgiven for assuming Chromeo were some sort of classical operatic duo, but then you'd be very wrong.

The pairing of P-Thugg and Dave 1 is all about the electro, the funk, the hip hop. It's music that you find yourself bopping to by accident, as if the beat and your subconscious are intrinsically linked, and they're going to have their own little party whether you like it or not.
The duo have recently released their second album, 'Fancy Footwork', and synth-master P-Thugg says the party is just getting started.
“We were really happy with our first album 'She's In Control', but with this new album we probably have more song writing, more melody, more lyrics to it,” he begins.
“We've mostly played with the sound and the texture; we took a lot of time shaping the sounds themselves, so it's clearer and cleaner, and a whole lotta fun.”
Chromeo may be proud of their second album, but for a long time P-Thugg says there was the possibility that it wasn't going to happen at all.
“We only really have a few months of the year where we can get together,” he explains.
“Dave is doing his PhD, I have a full time job. We felt a lot of pressure about doing another album - are we going to have the time for it, is this song as good as this song or that song, is it the same calibre as the old album?
“But I think in the end when you think about it too much it really affects how you write a song - you just have to chill out and try to get the same inspiration you had on the first album, and let it go from there.”
While the band says inspiration for the tunes was never hard to find, their hometown environment didn't exactly nurture their hip hop dreams.
“The hip hop scene in Montreal, if there is one here, is very small,” P-Thugg says.
“It's very French, and the French people are sort of surrounded by English on all sides, and so of course something is going to form in rebellion, and for us, hip hop is it.
“You probably wouldn't think so, because French hip hop is kind of funny with people rapping in French, but really hip hop can infiltrate everywhere.”
Despite his love for the genre, there is one region

of the world where P-Thugg doesn't think hip hop should reside.
“German hip hop is weird though,” he says indignantly. “I don't know, hip hop is supposed to be about rebellion, and it should be as far from authority as possible, but the German language is just full of authority and yeah, it doesn't really seem to fit.”
Strong words from a band who use their ill-fitting background as one of their biggest marketing ploys.
You see, Chromeo is not just French-Canadian or electro-hip hop; they're an Arab and a Jew as well.
“It's just an eye catching something to put in our press really,” P-Thugg says jokingly.
“We never really thought about it - it's not something either of us were brought up to think about it. It was only when we came out of high school and started the band together that people started noticing it about us - 'Hey look, it's an Arab and a Jew working together', you know, other people make such a big deal about it, so we may as well put it out there. It's a really funny thing for us, that people are even concerned about it.”
For now, the only thing Chromeo themselves are concerned about is their new album, and getting their own fancy footwork into gear.
“I'm the dancer in the band - Dave does dance sometimes, but mostly he just tries to follow what I do, and sometimes he's successful, but…” P-Thugg laughs.
“It's the music that matters most anyway.”
Erika Hennessy

Chromeo's second album, 'Fancy Footwork' is out now through Modular.
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