Arnaud Fleurent-Didier’s La Reproduction was one of the most striking albums of last year. The news that he and his band are playing the UK for the first time next week at the Institut Français is exciting as La Reproduction was more than great musically. It was also a cultural benchmark, putting the Mai 68 generation under the microscope and taking them to task for being inward-looking – they made great mayonnaise at the expense of paying attention to their kids.
La Reproduction is Fleurent-Didier’s fourth album, his first for a major label. His songwriting draws on the classic romantic arc of chanson and – best of all – there’s no attempt to ape UK or US indie tropes. Opening cut “France Culture” is a mesmerising mélange of Airish burbling, shifting strings and undulating texture over which Fleurent-Didier recites a list of cultural signposts that he does or does not subscribe to. “L’origine du monde” continues the sombre mood, with a beautifully distant string arrangement that underpins a piano-led performance that appears to reference Serge Gainsbourg (Verneuil – as in Rue de – crops up in the lyrics).
“Imbécile heureux” is equally sensitive, bringing to mind the orchestral sensibility and Baroque leanings of Michel Polnareff. “Mémé 68” – a look back at his parents in the context of Mai 68 and their subsequent preoccupations and failings – is another of these striking gems, shifting between acoustic introspection, string-driven grandeur and ba-ba vocals. Whatever the references, the voice here is singular – Fleurent-Didier is rooted in a tradition and unafraid of revealing it.
Unlike many French artists, he chooses to sing in his native language. “Singing in English is not natural,” he told me. “I compose French songs. Air, Daft Punk, Phoenix, Sebastian Tellier – in this group of bands I’m this silly guy who sings in French. I’m in love with the meaning of songs, the meaning of the album. It’s very old fashioned.”
Indeed, French reviews recognised the classic feel of La Reproduction and name-checked Michel Polnareff as well as contemporary artists like Benjamin Biolay. The album’s press release mentioned Gainsbourg, Brel and Ferré. The latter two made no sense musically, but La Reproduction is hugely wordy (like Biolay’s albums) and the comparison with the sonic wash of late-Sixties Gainsbourg is fair. Fleurent-Didier himself says, “When I was working on the album I was listening to a lot of Wings and Pierre Vassilu – he is the single artist who has most impressed me.”
Hacking at the sacred cow of Mai 68 attracted attention in the French press. But it also impacted on his own parents. “It was difficult for them to listen to the album,” acknowledges Fleurent-Didier. “They understood it, but found it tricky – and with how it reflected their own parents too. Now everything is OK, they are proud.”
Arnaud Fleurent-Didier plays the Ciné Lumière at the Institut Français next Thursday, 24 March.
Watch the introductory film to Arnaud Fleurent-Didier's La Reproduction
