Son Parapluie recalls late 60’s swinging Paris with Isobel Campbell, Jah Wobble & more – ‘Paris n’existe pas’, available 3rd June. Listen to the title track now!
3rd June is set for the release date of a unique and wonderful set of songs entitled ‘Paris n’existe pas’ by Son Parapluie (Translation: Paris Does not Exist by My Umbrella) through a partnership between French label Europop 2000 and American cohort 80 Proof Records. This project, a reverie of a classic era in French music featuring a fascinating, unexpected combination of performers, will be initially released on digital and limited-edition CD with a crowdfunded vinyl version. A unique NFT single with exclusive art and music will also be released.
Son Parapluie originates with Jérôme Didelot of the band Orwell, who has released a string of artful pop albums over the past two decades including 2020’s ‘Parcelle brillante’. Didelot wrote these new songs to evoke the late 60’s Paris of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Isobel Campbell (Belle & Sebastian, Mark Lanegan duet albums) leads the sterling cast as featured guest vocalist. Jah Wobble (PiL, Invaders of the Heart), Martin Carr (The Boo Radleys, Brave Captain), and noted French engineer/producer Yann Arnaud also appear providing remixes of songs from the project. Japanese singer Sugar Me rounds out the performer list singing on an alternate version of one of the songs.
Famed French artist Charles Berberian (known for his comic books, multiple movie posters and magazine covers including The New Yorker) created original artwork for the album cover, as well as second unique piece that will be available only via an NFT single.
Today, Big Takeover is pleased to premiere the album title track, ‘Paris n’existe pas’. The gorgeous song is an aching masterpiece of gentle French pop which explores Paris as metaphor. A place steeped in dreams and fantasies that are unattainable for all but a very few. Does this Paris exist? Peut-être. Peut-être pas.
On the song, Jérôme Didelot explains- “This is the first song I wrote for the project. As the spark came from abroad, when Todd Bisson from American label 80proof Records imagined Isobel Campbell could sing songs I’d write, I thought it was interesting to evoke Paris’s power of attraction. But I guess the main idea is using the city – the city of all dreams and fantasies – as a metaphor. The narrator says “Paris n’existe pas” (“Paris does not exist”) to express a feeling of alienation, she will never take part in some big artistic/cultural movement because the Paris she dreams of is more like a museum than a living scene.”
“On the demo track, I recorded the main vocal, but I had to pitch it as it was too high for me. There’s no need to describe to you how awful it was. When I first heard Isobel’s voice on the song it was like seeing a landscape under the sun for the first time, after months of greyness. Funny fact: I discovered a few months after writing the song that ‘Paris n’existe pas’ is also a cult French movie from the Sixties… With original music by Serge Gainsbourg!”, he further explains.
The album launches globally on 3rd June via all major digital platforms and compact disc on Amazon, Bandcamp, and select record stores in Europe through Europop 2000 and Belgian label Hot Puma and North America via 80 Proof Records.
