Sébastien Tellier recently toured the States, bringing a spacious European balance to “sex music” from this side of the pond, such as the brilliant, raunchy new Peaches album, I Feel Cream (which imeem is streaming for free, thanks to XLR8R). Tellier proves that sexiness and emptiness are never far apart. (pics and video after the jump)
The suave French downtempo musical maven’s newest album is called simply Sexuality, and it’s something of a poolside masterpiece, a welcome, beat-laden progression from his lush, drum-less first effort, L’incroyable Vérité (The Incredible Truth, 2001). It has nothing to do with k.d. lang’s “Sexuality.” At the Independent in San Francisco, Tellier’s encore was a feat in itself. Amid the tight white jeans and pulsing synths of his backing band, he moved from instrument to instrument, came up to the mic like he was making out with himself in the mirror, swaggered, posed, but never actually made a single noise. I guess that’s his thing. In the ridiculous video for “Kilometer,” he moves his fingers on invisible keyboards, maybe reaching for Safety Scissors, grooving out in his own private Simian Mobile Disco, or trying to remember where he put his Blue Velvet.
Sebastien Tellier – Kilometer from Lucky Number Music on Vimeo.
