Album review

Jean-Louis Murat

Low-tech secrets of a master craftsman

Paris 

12/04/2002 - 

"Sometimes it can take a lifetime to go from some weird, out-there idea to something basic and simple," says Jean-Louis Murat, explaining the genesis of his new album Le Moujik et sa femme. The album is undoubtedly one of Murat's most accomplished efforts to date – and certainly one of his simplest! Indeed, most of the tracks on Le Moujik et sa femme were recorded within a dozen hours, in a single take, with only a drummer and a bass-player for accompaniment.

After the 17th-century/rock cross-over of Madame Deshoulières (recorded as a duet with French actress Isabelle Huppert last year) and the success of Murat's last album Mustango in the U.S. in '99, Le moujik et sa femme finds Murat returning to recording basics with a series of raw songs drawn straight from life. Played with compulsive urgency and precision, the songs on Murat's new album draw on some serious subject matter, leading the singer to remark that when he was in the studio "I felt like I was recording an album full of darkness and despair - I got the impression all I was doing was talking about death!"

Murat goes on to talk about his low-tech approach on Le moujik et sa femme in our in-depth interview below:

RFI: What was the original idea behind your new album?
Jean-Louis Murat: When I set out to make this album I knew I wanted to get back to a simple, craftsman-like way of doing things. I felt that one of the problems with Mustango was that you tended to lose sight of the songs a bit. Somehow the songs got lost in the arrangements and the over-the-top lyrics – it was a bit like the songwriting circuit went directly from me to me and bypassed the listener altogether!

The thing is, I worked the whole thing out on Pro Tools, shifting verses around and mixing in extracts from different takes all over the place. That's the way everyone works now – the problem with recording an album these days is we all have too much time and too much money! With all these new tools artists get to play around with any stupid old song and any fool can come up with a halfway decent album! What I really wanted this time round was to make an album which moved away from all that and produced songs that would be more accessible to listeners.

RFI: So, basically, what you were trying to do was exert a bit more control over things…
J-L M: Well, I don't know whether I really managed to control things this time round or not. Like I said, it was a more a case of working in a craftsman-like way, you know, approaching the whole thing by saying, "This time I'm going to make the base out of cherrywood rather than lime tree." Sure, it's craftsmanship on a small scale, but I'm doing what I can in my own little cultural sphere!

RFI: When it comes to songwriting, do you find your songs come easily to you?
It's funny, I often come across interviews where singers talk about how much time they put into songwriting. They claim they only come up with three lines a day and then finally, three months later, they get round to working on the chorus! I've often wondered how they do it, you know. My problem with working like that is that I'm sure I'd write too much! Last May/June for instance I went off to New York and I spent the last fortnight of my stay over there songwriting. The way I worked was I'd sit down and write for four hours every morning. And I came up with 25 songs – many of which were bloody good songs, I must say, but I didn't end up recording any of them.
The thing with songwriting is you've got to prepare yourself mentally and physically, you've got to read a lot and exercise a lot and that helps get your creative juices flowing. I generally let things bubble up from inside and note them down as they come. I turn into one giant notepad when I'm songwriting really. When I go into my writing trance I get a lot done – sometimes I write up to three songs in four hours! The trick is trying not to spend too much time thinking about things. I never analyse my lyrics at all, just write them down the way they come and I never fiddle with them afterwards. I'm beginning to spend an increasing amount of time painting and drawing now, pretty much the same amount of time as I do writing, in fact, and I've come to realise that that's how I work best. I come up with bad material if I have to sit down and do the same thing twice or go over what I've written a second time! I'm at my best coming up with something in a couple of hours – after that, my creativity tends to run out. So when I feel my creative juices flowing I try to put myself in a state of readiness and work fast.

RFI: Fans can see a small selection of your paintings on your Internet site. But are there any plans to organise a proper exhibition at some point?
Well, I've come up with a pretty good method for exhibiting my work. I've converted one of my rooms at home into an exhibition space – I call it "My Sweet Little Sistine!" Anyway, once a month I fill the room with new canvases and I invite a bunch of friends round for a private view... I'm OK with showing what I've done to my girlfriend and my mates, but my mates get a bit embarrassed sometimes. The other day my mother wanted to come round and see my paintings too, but I had to say no. She came to one of my concerts once and ended up sitting in the front row. That was terrible – I'd never imagined that one day my own mother would turn up to watch me in concert!

RFI: Which artistic movement do you feel closest to in terms of painting style?
I'd go along with Cézanne and say that the only real art teacher is the Louvre. I think you can say the same thing when it comes to music too really. If you want to make any kind of progress, I think you have to sit back and meditate and experiment with what's already been done. I've always had the feeling that I was meant to revive things from the past, that life destined me to have a good short-term and long-term memory. That way I can pile all the thousands of songs I've heard in my life on my virtual shelf – my talent lies in being able to sift through them every now and then and pick out what I need!

RFI: I believe you've remained true to your usual way of working and started on your next album before this one came out?
That's the way I like to behave in life in general. I like to try and stay one step ahead of destiny! I've always got another album up my sleeve. The thing is, I can never go off on holiday and rest my mind completely. One album may be finished, but my mind's already ticking away working on the next. I've always got to have something bubbling away on the back burner.

And that means there's less stress involved with the current album too. If I get a bad review of the new album I can tell myself I don't give a damn because I know in a year's time I'll be bringing out one that's even better!

Jean-Louis Murat : Le moujik et sa femme (Labels)

Bertrand  Dicale

Translation : Julie  Street