IPECAC RECORDINGS 14th Feb 2025
Having collaborated with Mike Patton (once famous for Faith No More, now known for his record label and a variety of heavy alternative rock) on an album of dark chansons (‘Corpse Flower’), Francophile Patton has released Jean Claude Vannier’s new ‘soundtrack’ and it is perfectly judged.
It is a soundtrack for an imaginary film and sounds like your dream sixties French film. Something a little playful, with some love, bicycles, a breezy beach and a misunderstanding resolved by the end. All played on mandolins with an accordion because, well, because French soundtracks need an accordion. Light up a Gitane, pour yourself a pastis and enjoy. Tunes are wistful or bouncy or quirky and could illustrate that movie. One reminds me of Sammy Cahn’s ‘Monique’ but that’s not a bad thing, as it was from a soundtrack too.
At eighty-one, Jean Claude Vannier has had quite a history as arranger, composer and musician, working on films ‘Slogan’ and ‘Cannabis’ with Gainsbourg. He’s arranged for everyone in French pop history – Jane Birkin, Barbara, Gilbert Becaud, Yves Duteil, France Gall, Francois Hardy, Juliette Greco, and even Serge Gainsbourg (on the legendary ‘Histoire de Melody Nelson’). So your ears are in safe hands and the set is a joy to listen to, bringing a gentle smile to anyone who’s ever seen an old French film.
Says Vannier: “I’d always dreamt of writing for a mandolin orchestra – the instrument’s tremors seemed to me to be just the thing to showcase romantic and sentimental melodies.” so he teamed up with a friend who teaches mandolin in Marseilles to write melodies for his orchestra. The melodies are for an imaginary silent film, following the love story of a young boy. There is tremolo, glissando effects, harmonic colours and percussive attacks.
The whole is a joyful dream of a sunny afternoon spent in the dark cool of a cinema.
Vannier & Patton’s 2019 chanson collaboration: