Clash caught up with the French duo of David-Ivar Herman Dune and Cosmic Néman during their recent UK tour for some exclusive acoustic performances and a brief chat about their varied career thus far, including the influence that John Peel had on the band and their music.

Herman Dune – Be A Doll And Take My Heart – Clash Acoustic Session

David-Ivar wrote this as a love song, despite the fact that he started writing it after reading Deuteronomy 33:6, in which Moses blesses Reuben and says “May You Live And Not Die”. In context this might have been some kind of admonition but David-Ivar saw it otherwise and thought it was a wonderful thing to say to a loved one. Using the line as a starting point for the song, David added his favourite things to tell a woman you love, including the expression “Be A Doll”, which ended up being the title and the chorus of the song. As he explains: “Giving your heart to someone is a big deal and I felt that asking a girl nicely to “Be a doll and take my heart” balances out the wish that she would live and not die and the possessiveness of “May you never love another guy”