Founded in the fall of 2019 by Lisa and Aurélien Michaud, Barre Chord Press is a small independent publishing house based in France. 

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Working out of an attic office, it's cluttered with vinyl and novels. We have our office mascot, a Peggy Olson Pop-Up to remind us to keep at it, our son who who keeps spirits up with drawings and really bad jokes in French and our cat, Le Tigre who oversees quality control.

 

It's an all-hands-on deck family operation, inspired by our favorite indie record labels we fell in love with as teenagers. From the kitchen table days of SST to the zine-writing days of SubPop, the founders identify with the same DIY punk ethics.

 

Lisa and Aurélien, along with their small team of children and cats seek work outside the mainstream and aim for offbeat stories told through complex, flawed, and cultured characters who question everything in this ever-growing strange world.

 

The name Barre Chord comes from Lisa's frustration with playing these chords on her guitar. Struggling (and sometimes achieving) to stretch her small hands into the shape, she felt it was the perfect name for the house because nothing worth doing comes easy (even if she can cheat with a capo.) 

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