Sébastien Tellier

2001 – The Sébastien
Tellier story began with L’incroyable
verite – A record filled with sorrow, made for crying under candlelight. A
carefree album mixed by Quentin Dupieux, completely devoid of drums /
percussion. An introspective journey to the boundaries of the universe and
intimacy where Sebastien, drowsy and bedraggled, embarks on a search for lost
time without leaving his bed (Pink Floyd, Robert Wyatt, a certain mindset of
the 70’s). An entity borne out of wonderings in the gardens of French
music. At Record Makers HQ (Air’s former
label), the singularity of the record is thoroughly endorsed.

2004 -
Sébastien
Tellier opens his bedroom window and discovers something crazy: the outside
world. With his second album, Politics,
(Tony Allen on drums, Philippe Zdar on production duties), he covers the globe
in huge strides (Africa, US, South America …)
to try and make sense of it all. La Ritournelle, an epic, romantic piece, really
caused a stir. It convinced every listener of one thing - Sébastien Tellier is
an important artist.

2006. After Sessions, a process of catching up and
reinvigorating his repertoire (as well as Christophe’s sublime “Dolce Vita” )
with the help of Simon Dalmais on piano, Sébastien locked himself away into a
Parisian recording studio Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (one half of Daft Punk)
behind the controls to produce the next instalment of his adventures.

2007. Summer time in Biarritz.
A bar
on the beach. Sébastien Tellier, immaculately dressed in a white suit, is
leaning on the bar, sipping a Martini. In the distance the sun is setting, some
bronzed girls are heading nonchalantly towards The Blue Cargo. Sébastien clicks
his fingers: the sounds of Sexuality,
his third album, fill the room. Eleven tracks which cover the whole night in
less than an hour, from dusk ‘til dawn. He whispers a few words in our ears
about each of them.

-

Roche: « I always used to spend my holidays there. I always wanted to
return, play my music and say to myself “Tonight, I’m king of the night”. In
this song, the sun is beating down and I’m having really intense fantasies
about girls in bikinis. If I wanted to seduce them, I’d play this song which is
a European or French twist on the sexual enchantment that you’d associate with
American R’n’B. »

-
Kilometer: « With this song, you should try and think of Justin Timberlake,
but from Berlin
instead – a mix of American sensuality and cold Teutonic precision. It’s my
vision of German love: the motorway which runs for miles. »

-
Look: « This is a song about the Latin style of seduction – completely
based on appearances. I like knowing that a woman has taken the time to make
herself look attractive. «Look» is about the little bit of skin between the
mini skirt and stockings. I’m talking about sex here in a wise and serious
manner, like an analyst elegantly trying to pick up girls in a cocktail bar in New York. »

-
Divine: This is my tribute to the Beach Boys and the Juicy Fruits (from the 1974
musical Phantom of the Paradise). It’s about a
time of innocence – when having fun was more important than picking up girls. I
visualise a bunch of kids playing on the beach and I’d really love to play with
them.

Let’s stop for a second. With Sexuality, is Sébastien Tellier really
turning on the charm? Situated somewhere between the soundtrack for a porno
film and a digitized soul, at the same time erotic and synthesised, does this
mean his latest incarnation brings to mind an electronic Latin lover? Sexuality can be conceived as the carriage
of Casanova mounted on Hummer wheels. Here we find the old Europe of
Christophe, Ennio Morricone and Giorgio Moroder flirting outrageously with the
new school of contemporary R’n’B, bringing Justin Timberlake, Beyonce or
Timbaland to mind for 51 minutes of an intense, technological sensuality. Time
to regain consciousness:

-
Pomme : «This is the song which is most representative of the whole album. I
see it as the most erotic as well as the sweetest. The apple is the forbidden
fruit.

The sun waits until the lovers
have finished making love before rising. He doesn’t want to disturb them. »

- Une
heure : «I’m singing here about my admiration for bisexuals who have the chance
of sampling all the types of pleasure. Bisexuality shows the greatest freedom
of spirit – the genuinely cool people are bisexuals. It was the first erotic
song that I wrote; I wanted to make it last an hour. It triggered something off
in my mind, which resulted in the album.

-
Sexual Sportswear: «The first single. An instrumental. This track is the
best representation of my relationship with Guy-Man: My moving harmonies mixed
with the efficiency and lightness of Daft Punk. For me, the ultimate fantasy is
a girl in a tracksuit working out in her living room. She has two coaches who
make her work her glutes and her abs…things can only get messy from there.»

-
Elle : «Composed with Guy-Man, it’s the «Fox and the Hound» song of the album.
It’s impossible to reach orgasm without some closeness and tenderness at least.
The key to sex is love. It’s a very pure song which resembles heaven. »

-
Fingers of Steel : «This song is about the Kubrickian fantasy of the
machine which is self-aware. The computer touches me here sensually with its
fingers of steel. From our union comes this song. »

-
Manty : «I love classical music; it’s a huge inspiration for me. My starting
point here is the universe of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette: a mix of discretion and glitz which for me is
extremely sexy. I imagine myself in the middle of making love on a sailboat as
large as Italy.
This is what happened to me this summer. Living your fantasies is for me a good
example of a successful life. »

L’amour
et la violence : «It’s the title which sums up what I’ve lived through
in the most profound way. It shows that the rest of the album is a huge fantasy
where I’m searching for intensity in the superficial. With «Love and Violence»,
I’m finally revealing myself – I have neither the skin of a stallion nor a
virgin, I’m naked and I ask that people judge me as I really am.

The last piano notes, so pure,
so light of «L’amour and la violence» drift off into the warm air like little
propaganda leaflets jettisoned from an aeroplane. On each note, printed in
golden letters: SEBASTIEN TELLIER –
SEXUALITY. The sun can finally come up.