Suppose It Is Butter

Description

Julien Daïan returns with a new album, ‘Suppose it is butter’, an enigmatic quote taken from a poem by Gertrude Stein that sets the tone for this iconoclastic musical journey. True to his unique recipe, he concocts a stunning cocktail of surprising collaborations, unexpected tracks, and influences that he refuses to name, refusing to be confined to a single box. - - This is how the album opens, with a bouquet of fresh and vibrant chords of pure pop & jazz, a banana-butternut smoothie caressing the auditory taste buds. ‘Bartz is a kid again’, proclaims the title, a nostalgic nod to the flamboyant funk of Gary Bartz, to the afro hairstyles, to an idealized Harlem. A time-traveling journey continues with ‘The play you play away’, an ambient & down-tempo track inspired by the New York underground of Sam Wilkes and the Lounge Lizards. Winston McAnuff unfolds his melodies in a soul and atmospheric register that is so surprising. An enchantment that transforms into an electro-festive climax on the track that will conclude the album, ‘Clubbing with the watcher’, where Daïan becomes the master of ceremonies for a festive and incantatory evening. - - After Serge Gainsbourg on the album ‘Cut-up’, it is Daniel Auteuil who makes a fleeting appearance the day after the party, lending his voice for ‘Les musiciens dorment le matin’. The sleep is restless, perhaps saturated with darker reversals and nocturnal wanderings. But too old to change, Daïan soon awakens on ‘The Real McBuck’, an official tribute to Buckshot LeFonque. Armed with a pair of Japanese denim, New York riffs, and old-school scratches, he transports us with rapper Biship Chasten to the heart of the 90s, to the time when the Marsalis/Premier duo changed his life. Biship Chasten will be found supported by the indestructible Roger Raspail on ‘Caïman Barbu’ with Alex Tassel on trumpet in a rhythm that accelerates and becomes more Cuban. The atmosphere becomes more frantic, the party continues but shifts, Daïan fills his melting pot.