Sebastien Tellier - 'Politics' (Lucky Number Music) Released 05/09/2005

 

Thanks to the excitement bubbling around his opus of a single, ‘La Ritournelle’, Parisian bohemian Sebastien Tellier’s captivating second full-length ‘Politics’ has now thankfully been given a full release over here. Released in his native country some months ago, Tellier’s album effortlessly shifts between vast, cinematic behemoths to blissed out gems to frankly comical dittys – yet importantly there’s an all pervading warmth and accessibility to the sound. The man’s clearly a dreamer and slightly unhinged, yet listing to this bizarre work there’s little doubting his brilliance.

Armed with wacky, upbeat trumpets, on strange opener ‘Bye Bye’ Tellier croons in a baritone voice on what is essentially a cocktail tune on acid - yes, it’s clear from the offset that this isn’t going to be your run of the mill album. Sung in Spanish, ‘League Chicanos’ is suitably flamenco flavoured and is coupled with chunky xylophone plonks and handclaps. And ‘WonderAfrica’ comes complete with cheap electronic synths straight off a naff eighties late-night TV show juxtaposing the warm, hymnal vocals purring lyrics like “The eyes of a Cheetah shine a moonlight”. It’s unashamedly cheesy stuff, but better for it. However, it’s the piano-led, swooning and gorgeously delivered ‘La Ritournelle’ that’s the central point and highlight of the album. True such a blissed-out, stunning sound has been made many-a time before, yet Tellier somehow creates something with opulence and soul.

Once those goose bumps have settled, while the rest of the album fails to top ‘La Ritournelle’, it’s still an immensely satisfying listen. The trumpet saturated ‘Benny’ begins like a bizarre parody of Disney music before Tellier switches into comical mode yelping “Oh no no no”. Weird. Swiftly changing tone, the poignant ‘Slow Lynch’ is a downbeat, brooding instrumental courtesy of the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, while ‘La Teurie’ is unadulterated slabs of staccato electronic noise - a head-**** in the very best way possible. More comedy is instilled through the German sung ‘Mauer’ (cocktail music on acid again) about an East-German girl lamenting the fall of the Berlin wall because she can’t play tennis against it any more. Later, ‘Ketchup vs. Genocide’ is a song about troops storming in to save Native Americans from colonisers, and comes with horror synths and truly affecting lyrics. Lovely stuff. 

Challenging, stunning, humorous and just plain weird - sometimes all at once - ‘Politics’ is an album you won’t forget in a hurry.