Sebastien Tellier - Cochon Ville

Matthew Crick, - on 15/5/12

Review

Sebastien Tellier
Cochon Ville
RECORD MAKERS

One thing that you’re never short of, when peering into Sébastien Tellier’s idiosyncratic and often detached mind, is an adjective. ‘Eccentric’, ‘ostentatious’ and ‘ridiculous’ immediately spring to mind, yet merely scratch the surface of the Frenchman’s boundless character. Another would be ‘odd’, which also describes France’s decision to project Tellier to the Eurovison masses back in 2008, as much as him acquiescing to it. However, you can’t help but think that this is all part of a spectacular act, the parody if you like, of a musician who is as unpredictably strange as he is richly talented.

The arrival of new Tellier material is never subtle or fatigued, and with My God Is Blue detonating last month, Cochon Ville is his first single and slice of imagination to be meddled with. This would be ill advised for unqualified folk, but Tellier seemingly chooses not to surround himself with these kind of people. Instead, as he nonchalantly flicks through his little black book, while feeding moon dust to his pet unicorn, presumably, he rounds up his most worthy, artistic friends – friends with immeasurable benefits.

Cochon Ville - the term referring to someone who’s into kinky sex (just watch the video for definition) - is again indicative of Tellier’s recent tone, dispensing some indulgent electrofunk and celestial synth-pop against his trademark wispy vocals. Dimitri From Paris pumps even more disco into its veins, somehow, but avoids an overdose with some lovely bass slaps. The Magician, who just had to be on the roster, pulls extra synth and bass licks out of the hat, while Brodinski steps forward with his fleshy tech-house interpretation, evoking images of Tellier nodding with wide-eyed approval.

Chicago-based Hey Champ completes the impressive formation by maintaining their love for infectious synth-funk that both Trevor Horn and Mr Oizo would acknowledge. But above all, Tellier has provided us with yet another reason why we should not only accept his quirky and avant-garde ways, but also embrace them with open arms.