Sebastien Tellier - 'Universe' (Lucky Number) Released 18/09/06

With ‘Universe,’ Sebastien Tellier takes Jame Blunt, gently bends him over and does him royally up the singer-song writer bum. Fey as a French fancy, intimate and expansive in turns, treading the boards between Pink Panther and soft-porn, Tellier serves up a moog-infused feast. ‘Universe,’ created exclusively for the UK, brings together tracks from Sebastien’s native French album ‘Sessions’ and soundtrack to the film ‘Narco’. As famous for his eccentric behaviour as his unworldly canon of music, the hirsute French-man insists we listen to his music ‘alone and by candle light.’ Pretension aside, it’s not bad advice.
 
Album opener, ’La Ballade Du Georges’ creeps into life on a flickering bass line laced with strings, and gently tips us into the epic ’La Ritournelle’ (’the old story’ for us Brits). Arguably the album's  highlight, a simple glockenspiel refrain paves the way to luminous strings, dreamy vocals, keys and synths. Layers of sound slide and skim over each other, different instruments fade in and out of focus and the result is sweeping, intensely cinematic and beautiful. Similarly filmic is ‘Le Demon Pupkin,’ a hurtling instrumental concocted of ear-contracting strings, looping synths and piano.
 
The album pivots on tradition and experimentation, with Tellier possessing the confidence to slow proceedings to a throbbing ebb or semi-croon only to gather momentum, change tack or climax suddenly. And sometimes he plays it straight - as with the measured and mournful title track. ’Universe’ is a forlorn ode to someone loved and lost, with Tellier’s voice heavily accented and marshmallow soft (without dissolving into the realms of wet flannel), his piano lush and evocative.
 
More often than not, however, his intimate, smoky vocals and classical keys are laced with electronics. In ’Broadway’ the organic marrying of vocals and keys is permeated by reverberating synths which spiral into a black-hole of a close. ‘Le Long de la Riviere Tendre’ similarly shimmers and pulses with moogs. The result is comfortingly personal and softly and mouth-wateringly space-age - light your candles and let your solitary vigil begin.