While it’s almost six years since arch Parisien hipster and former Eurovision performer Sébastien Tellier released his last album, he can hardly be described as a slacker. In the interim, there’s been three film soundtracks, two EPs and he performed at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games – not to mention having to deal with an irritating case of identity theft.
However, the untamed dandy has now donned his wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses once more and ventured into the recording studio to create Kiss the Beast, a diverse rainbow of electronica sounds that covers ground as varied as spaced-out ballads, rump-shaking electro-pop, electro-orchestral cinematic sounds and mellow folktronica without sounding disjointed or forced. On the contrary, Tellier exudes an icy cool demeanour throughout.
Kicking off with the lush and dreamy title track, Tellier then journeys through the melancholy and atmospheric “Naïf de Coeur”, the somewhat abstract “Refresh” and the weird sheep-baaing punctuated Leonard Cohen-like vibes of “Mouton”, before seriously hitting the dancefloor with vocalist Slayyyter and Nile Rodgers. Their chart-friendly collaboration, “Thrill of the Night” is clearly a stab at commercial success amid Tellier’s other more considered sounds, but it is one that feels anything but a cynical and cheesy grasping for some cash and deserves to be soundtracking evenings out for a good while yet. It’s infectious pop hooks, house piano riffs and smooth grooves taking command and demanding a physical response from the first bars.
Elsewhere, there are shades of Vangelis on “Romantic”, a brief appearance by Kid Cudi to support Tellier’s whispered singing on “Amnesia” and even a burst of flamenco guitar on strange lounge jazz of “Loup” before calming down with the laidback “Un Dimanche en Famille”. In fact, it’s not too much of a stretch to say that the ghost of the legendary Serge Gainsbourg may have made a bid for freedom from the afterlife to act as Tellier’s sonic co-pilot on Kiss the Beast.
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