The enigmatic Frenchman Sébastien Tellier has a lot on his plate. Currently promoting a new album, the brilliant and beguiling L'Aventura [Amazon.com; Amazon.co.uk], he's also working on his wife's forthcoming record while somehow managing to perform a series of stunning live shows throughout 2014. Well known for his work with Daft Punk and Air, among others, his latest effort only adds to the mystery.
Since gaining cult status in Europe and beyond more than a decade ago, the wispy-voiced hippy has not rested on his crumple-trousered behind. Having once advised fans to play his debut L'incroyable Verite only by candlelight, he's currently jetting round the world, putting the hours in, to market his latest flickering work.
Although he sings mostly in delicate French, the universal themes and hypnotic melodies in his work speak to the world. Inspired by the rhythms of Brazilian life, it's at turns beautiful, epic (Comment Revoir Oursinet) and intensely nostalgic (L'Amour Carnaval). It sees Tellier attempt to create an alternative past for himself, one free of the memories he acquired as a middle-class French boy in Paris. But why?
L'Aventura smells of Brazil, he says. "It's a record in which I rewrite my childhood. I like the idea that art can rewrite the past, it's the ultimate means of expression. I lived a common childhood in a regular Parisian suburb. I wanted to colour my past, to make it blazing, happy and splendid.
"As a musician, I have always been attached to the music of my childhood, I used a lot of my musical memories to compose L'Aventura. I also realised that most of these memories are linked to cartoons from that time."
Tellier makes imagining a new set of childhood recollections sound like a piece of cake. But his playful summary of the recording process only hints at the complex, all-embracing music of L'Aventura. The tracks instantly evoke sun-drenched beaches, overflowing favelas and football games on soft sand.
Comment Revoir Oursinet spills out 14 minutes of a joyous 1970s-style guitar, chewable bass, soothing strings and angelic vocals – all accompanied by a drummer who didn't get enough sleep last night. Ten minutes in and a heavenly female vocal introduces a memorable finale, Tellier's voice slowly disappearing into the distance. It's terrifically original and about as refreshing as a glass of pure water.
Where better for inspiration for a new album than Brazil? “I needed a thousand splendours of scenery for this imaginary childhood,” he reveals. “Brazil was the ideal place thanks to its landscapes and close relation to music. I needed to be far away from my reality to find inspiration. I also wanted to develop my bass and guitar-playing in another way. Working in the Brazilian style was really pleasant.”
A pleasant working atmosphere follows Tellier wherever he goes. His 2008 album Sexuality was the result of an amicable and productive relationship with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of the French techno masters Daft Punk. When the possibility was put forward, Homem-Christo apparently jumped at the chance to produce the record, describing Tellier as the "best singer and composer in France today". High praise from the man who has recently given world pop music some of its biggest songs.
Despite the rhythmic and ambient influences that are there for all to hear on L'Aventura, Tellier rejects any notion that the album's themes and release date were designed to cash in on the football World Cup. Indeed, while making the album he thinks his mind was "… far from football, far from people. I decided to like football one year ago. I tried to understand the rabble, but I feel so far from it today that it has become a mystery again. Football is a violent sport, in which everything is about poor taste; that's the opposite of my record."
Tellier labels football fans a "rabble", but you could argue it's just a not-entirely-serious comment from a Frenchman typically confident of his views. And, despite the firm denial, it's hard to listen to L'Aventura without remembering some moments of samba genius from the recently finished competition (early goals from Brazil and performances by their Latin American neighbours, not the gruesome part when the beautiful game was blown out of the water by a merciless Germany). The tournament, so packed full of beautiful surprises, neatly mirrors the many flavours and approaches of Tellier's album, which includes pop, prog rock, balladry and psychedelic tweaking. Perhaps Monsieur Tellier was only half-serious when insisting it has nothing to do with football.
The denial also seems strange when you consider how he recently retweeted a surreal, fan-made YouTube video of World Cup 2014 moments. It features the L'Aventura track Ambiance Rio and Tellier tweeted it thus: "Ahahah Hilarious". The YouTube video superimposes scenes from the tournament onto beach scenes and other nonsense situations. A speedboat glides along the Maracana grass, two teams lining up for national anthems by a busy road. It's a weird and memorable trip, perfectly driven by Tellier's masterful pop, which seems at home amid the blatant Dali references.
So much of L'Aventura is dreamy, cinematically hypnotic and deeply satisfying. A single listen transports the listener to the sun-drenched sands of Brazil, as your brain writes postcards home to the rest of your body. The track Ma Calypso captures some of what makes exotic retreats so appealing. Rich memories, great conversation and mind-massaging music. The multi-instrumentalist Tellier does incredibly well to keep the soundscapes balanced, flavoursome and full – as if he was a Parisian Artist Formally Known as Prince. But which weapon of sound does he prefer to play? He says: "I like the bass. I learnt music with a guitar then a piano. When I started playing the bass, I found it wonderfully simple. The bass has a great emotional power, it's like the unconscious of music."
"Wonderfully simple" neatly summarises the splendid vistas, unexpected hooks and orchestral tangents of L'Aventura. There is, as you'd expect from a middle-class Parisian, a lot of cheese from France that makes you dance – remember this is the guy who came joint-14th at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest with Divine, a song precisely one trillion times better than anything else in the competition that year.
But, to be fair, Eurovision is less about good music than it is about terrible songs and costumes spreading peace throughout the continent. At the time, Tellier drew criticism from some French people when he sang most of the song in English. It was a confused time in Tellier’s career, but he got through it OK.
Eurovision isn’t something he’s likely to do again and neither will he have to, having somehow managed to gain a lofty reputation as a producer and performer extraordinaire.
Having moved on from the Eurovision horror show idea, Tellier has been learning how to change the way he markets himself as a musician. As he admits himself, social media and video-sharing sites have changed the way he and many other musicians do business.
He says: “The most important medium is the internet. Today, an artist has to create his own little virtual theatre to exist. Music videos are part of this little theatre’s scenery. But to my mind, video is mostly a good way to travel and make nonsense stuff while trying to create charm.”
Tellier's videos are occasionally as vibrant as his songs, which is no surprise, considering how rich in cinematic detail they are. Indeed, his work has featured on many great films, including Fantino on Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation in 2003, while L'incroyable Verite was featured in Coppola's later movie, Somewhere. And his travelling "little theatre" of tricks has been getting many ecstatic reviews wherever he's played on the planet. There's more to come this year for fans throughout the world.
He revealed: “This summer I plan to rework a lot of my old tracks and bring them into my new Brazilian world in time for my next world tour, which will start in October.”
Paul Dorrian is a regular contributor to The National.
