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The new french electro-pop

Sébastien Schuller, The Film and Syd Matters


Paris 

14/04/2005 - 

Sébastien Schuller, The Film and Syd Matters are all French  – and yet the music they make is largely inspired by Anglo-Saxon pop. Not that they are slavish copyists; it's more a question of a personal take on a style of music that it seems some would prefer was made elsewhere!

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   Sébastien Schuller Happiness

 
 
French pop is doing pretty well these days. Air were the trailblazers, groups like M83 and 3 Guys Never In followed through, and now Sébastien Schuller, with his début album Happiness, confirms the rude health of Gallic pop, garnering rave reviews from the Les Inrockuptibles, Magic, and Le Monde. A first single, Weeping Willow, came out in 2002 – it was a disenchanted electro-pop lament, with droning guitars and a sickly synth sound.  It raised interest and expectations for a first album, which eventually appeared in early 2005.

On top of a pop structure and acoustic arrangements, Sébastien Schuller grafts electronic sound effects and treated vocals. The result is a rather ethereal album of changing moods, swinging from the sepulchral Where we had never gone, with its funereal organs and otherworldly voice, to the more joyful Tears coming home. There is a touch of Radiohead in the singing style, a certain atmosphere that recalls Pink Floyd, and melody lines that make you think of Air – the comparisons are certainly flattering.

Happiness is about the quest for lost joy. Sébastien Schuller is a solitary thirtysomething who admits to being a bit angst-ridden. Having searched in vain for the right musicians, he realised that he could manage by himself, and he composed the album in a garret in Montmartre, helped by Paul Hanford (formerly of the Brothers in Sound). Having started out as a classical percussionist, Sébastien Schuller now feels more comfortable as part of the new wave culture. He is preparing to play live and has just bought himself an electric guitar. It will be interesting to see what kind of a show he puts on...

Sébastien Schuller Happiness (Catalogue/Wagram) 2005

Nicolas Dambre

   The Film 

 
 
French duo The Film have obviously listened to a lot of Bowie, Bolan and the New York Dolls. Their souped-up sound recycles a number of riffs from the glam rock days at CBGBs and Whiskey-a-gogo. On top of all that, they add a pop sensibility with catchy choruses, all melded together to produce the perfect fusion. The one Film track you've almost certainly heard if you live in France is Can you touch me?, which is used on recent car ad, and has helped get the word out on this duo from Bordeaux (Benjamin Lebeau and Guillaume Brière). Apparently these days admen are fond of minor rock hits that are easy enough to hum along to on the road (the Caesars' Jerk It Out, used on an ad for an MP3 player, is a similar case). The eleven songs of this debut album, all sung in English (except Où est le plaisir?), form a bridge between the contemporary scene and the former glories of rock'n'roll. There are a lot of vintage electric keyboards on the album, letting The Film recreate R&B, soul and psychedelic rhythms in their songs. From the brass intro to the monster track Big RDV to the effective guitar-bass-drums arrangements of the rest of the CD, the duo's debut album is a success. Buy it and you'll get the soundtrack to your own Film!

The Film (Amosphériques / Universal) 2005

Davis Glaser

   Syd Matters Someday we will foresee obstacles

 
 
It all kicked off with A Whisper and a Sigh, an ethereal rock album that sounded like a sonic sculpture in which diverse folk, prog rock and post-punk influences all fought it out with each other. The mistake would have been to do another version of the same album, without trying to do anything different. But that's not the way Syd Matters like to do things. Someday we will foresee obstacles sees them delving deep into melody, with guitar arpeggios as smooth and silky as ever, with the drums more  subtly mixed than on the first album, where vocals treated with a vocoder (Middle Class Men) are blended with handclaps, and disturbing siren sounds are wrought from the effects pedals on I care.

Syd Matters create other original sonic blends, based on raw guitars and the sound of distant choirs. Someday sometimes evokes the atmosphere of Radiohead's The Bends. The album was mixed by Yann Arnaud (he also worked on Sébastien Schuller's first album), who does wonders with the soft, drawling vocals of Jonathan (aka Syd). It's a beguiling voice that shows warmth in the track Obstacles, a superb piece of radio-friendly pop. Likewise for Watcher, a piece of songwriting that recalls the work of Elliott Smith. The songs on this album are full of interesting innovations – for example Passe-Muraille, built over two time signatures, where the vocals straddle a long free jazz intro, repeating over and over a messianic refrain that starts with: "That's alright... alright...walking through the wall" and ends with "get up if you fall, walk into the lights". It's one of those songs that you feel rather than understand. Syd Matters find themselves somewhere between the rich ambiences of Mogwai, Sonic Youth and the eloquent Divine Comedy – with elegantly sung poetic lyrics that evoke Nick Drake. Syd Matters are slowly building up a body of work to become one of the brightest stars of French independent rock over the past few years.

David Glaser

Syd Matters Someday we will foresee obstacles (Third Side/V2/Chronowax)

Translation : Hugo  Wilcken