Feu! Chatterton - Avant qu'il n'y ait le monde (Live acoustic) #palaisdargile

It's no secret that at this blog we're huge fans of Feu! Chatterton, and have been since their debut album came our way.

They embody much of what I love about French music, the idiosyncrasies, the way they don't take themselves too seriously but remain unashamedly intelligent and their style which manages to be simultaneously mock pretentious and completely natural.

So their third album Palais D'Argile is something we're pretty excited about, and while waiting for it to drop we were delighted to see this appear.

While an acoustic session, it's a magnificent piece of work. It's also so perfectly shot it's only after a few watched that you realise it's just one shot for the duration of the song.

The song is originally by Irish poet William Butler Yeats, it's English title being Before the world was made. It's recently been recorded by Carla Bruni - on her No Promises album from 2007 - and The Waterboys on their 2011 An Appointment with Mr Yeats album.

Palais D'Argile is released on March 12.

Serge Gainsbourg online discussion #GainsbourgForever

 A quick plug for an event taking place tomorrow that's been organised by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni in London to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Serge Gainsbourg.

Author Jeremy Allen, whose biography of Gainsbourg Relax Baby Be Cool: The Artistry and Audacity of Serge Gainsbourg has just been published, is in conversation with French music expert David McKenna.

Gainsbourg is without a doubt a towering figure in French music and culture in general, his work extending to film, literature and television. While his notoriety has at times surpassed his artistic endeavours, even thirty years after his passing he remains a significant influence and a cross-genre innovator. 

I'm reading Allen's book at the moment, and it's probably the definitive book in English about Gainsbourg. I'll have more to say about it when I've finished it, needless to say, it's both incredibly informative and very entertaining.

Tomorrow night (Tuesday March 2, 7pm) you can hear more about the man, the musician and the myth. Get full details at the Institut français website.