Albin de la Simone’s new album opens to the punchy sound of mystery backing singers exclaiming “Catastrophe!”
The energy and whimsy of this opening set the tone for an album intended to be simple and direct in its writing and production. Although Albin has retained his taste for idiosyncrasy, he now expresses himself with far greater lucidity. “I had to approach things more simply. The album grew from the notion of pleasure, and that’s what comes across — I hope.”
Albin de la Simone started out as a contemporary jazz pianist, then gradually began to accompany singers such as Mathieu Boogaerts, Alain Souchon, Jean-Louis Aubert and Arthur H. These collaborations brought out the writer within, and he eventually struck out on his own and released his first album in 2003, featuring duets with Feist and Alain Souchon.
In 2005 he released the “Je vais changer” album.
This exhilarating second album featured a medley of pop references, a mixture of serious and light-hearted subject matter, and a strong sense of situation comedy (Non Merci). It included another duet, this time with Jeanne Cherhal on a French version of Somethin' Stupid as sung by the Sinatra father-daughter duo.
It also included the track J’ai changé, which gave the singer his first real radio exposure.
Three years on and Albin has indeed changed, varying his approach without sacrificing the characteristics that make him stand out: his voice, subtle melodies and witty lyrics.
Albin spent a month by himself writing the third album in a bungalow on Bali, where the idea for the album’s device came to him: backing singers who would sing in counterpoint to him on almost every track. “Because I was on my own, I was hearing women’s voices answering me, supporting me and even making fun of me. To temporarily simulate this effect I used a system to digitally transpose my own voice, which ended up as an irreplaceable element on eight of the album’s eleven tracks.”
When it came to recording the album that he was determined would be highly musical and rhythmic, he couldn’t do without the energy and participation of his musician friends and long-time on-stage partners: Pascal Colomb (bass), Philippe Entressangle (drums), François Lasserre (guitar) and Fabrice Colombani (percussion). They all got together in July 2007 at the Paris studio of Marlon B (M, Spleen, Bazbaz, Sébastien Tellier, etc.), who co-produced “Bungalow!” with Albin. The album was recorded in three sessions over five days, then mixed in ten days. “A free-flowing and lightweight sort of production, so we could stay as faithful as possible to my initial ideas.”
Whilst his first two albums were fairly inward-looking and autobiographical, “Bungalow!” has a more fictional feel. “I’ve got rid of my baggage now, I’ve been able to have fun, make things up, talk less about myself,” explains Albin. The only direct reference to himself is on Parle-moi, conjuring up his relationship to massages and touching. On other tracks he draws on other sources of inspiration: anecdotes on Catastrophe, friends’ stories on Adrienne, pure fiction on J’aime lire and observations on Sympa. In J’avais chaud, he mixes together different musical memories, including the Mandingo music he discovered when accompanying Salif Keita. Vendéen sees him having fun with the sounds that numbers make. Resolutely playful, the album ends with a metaphysical question on Le tire-fesses, as Albin wonders about his place in the world.
A tricky question, but one that “Bungalow!” succeeds in answering.
2003
Albin de la Simone
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2005
Je vais changer
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2009
Bungalow (Nouvelle Edition)
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