Erika Forster formed Au Revoir Simone in 2003 after discovering a shared love of keyboards with friend and bandmate-to-be Annie Hart, later recruiting Hannah D’Angelo to complete the trio. A recent highlight for the group, she says, was a gig at Paris's Cité de la Musique in collaboration with suave French electronica act Air, at which ARS played a mixed set of their own songs and Air covers: “I got to sing in French, which was really fun!” says Forster. In the past year, the Wurlitzer-loving keyboardist has been moonlighting as a DJ, starting with a weekly night at Brooklyn nightspot Manhattan Inn, during downtime from touring commitments. To coincide with the release of ARS’s latest offering, the remix album Night Light, we tapped her for this exclusive nighttime playlist, available to download via iTunes.


1. Robyn—“Dancing on My own” (from Body Talk Pt 1, 2010)
I just like the people that she works with, and she has this perfect understanding of pop music. It’s a perfect dance track. She’s definitely a different type of creature. It’s cool that she’s not coming straight from all these American influences, and she seems to really think for herself.

2. Valerie Dore—“The Night” (from The Night, 1984)
I found this track when I started DJing. It’s something that in its time was probably quite popular; it’s such a gem. But whenever I play it, people come up and go, “What is this?”

3. The Hundred in the Hands—“Sleepwalkers” (from This Desert EP, 2010)
They’re friends of ours––we share a practice space with them. The album’s out on Warp really soon. When we’re rehearsing we hear all these songs being formulated; the vocalist, Ellie, has the most amazing voice.

4. Peter Bjorn and John—“Last Night” (from Living Thing, 2009)
I chose this because it’s a lesser-known track. A couple of years ago we were on tour in Sweden and we heard the song “Young Folk” before it made it to America, and were obsessed with them, and then we got to tour with them!

5. CALLmeKAT—“Flower in the Night” (from Fall Down, 2008)
She is somebody who we’ve also gotten to play with, because she’s a friend that we met in Sweden and Denmark (she’s from Copenhagen). She’s moved to Brooklyn and is playing around New York a lot. She’s an amazing singer.

6. Crystal Stilts—“Bright Night” (from Alight of Night, 2009)
Their album had a very similar album title to our album Still Night, Still Light—theirs is called Alight of Night. We’re friends and we always joke about it. I think their sound is really evocative of night, its emotion and feeling.

7. Beach House—“10 Mile Stereo” (from Teen Dream, 2010)
I really admire Beach House—they have similar instruments to what we play, but on this last album they were able to accomplish something absolutely amazing with the layering, the dynamics, the textures. This is one of my favorite songs of theirs.

8. Air—“Missing the Light of Day” (from Love 2, 2009)
This isn’t one of the ones we played in our collaborative show with them, but it’s from their most recent album, one that I’m not sure everybody has heard. I really admire Air for continuing to make songs that are sexy, cool, exciting, but certainly mellow.

9. Class Actress—“Journal of Ardency” (from Journal of Ardency EP, 2010)
An amazing songwriter from Brooklyn who put out a four-song EP recently. She’s going to be coming out with an album soon, and I feel she’s one of the artists I’m so hungry for an album from at the moment. This is a good introduction track. It’s a fusion of 80s synths and thoughtful lyrics.

10. Casiokids—“Verdens Største Land” (from Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar, 2010)
What I love about Casiokids is that they’re really joyful. Dance music is often dramatic, but in a non-joyful way. I love that they’re having fun, and the songs and melodies are great. It’s a shame I can’t understand the title of this song!