French Kiss Chilly Gonzales

• 1 French Kiss 03:40
• 2 Il Pleut Sur Notre-Dame (feat. Bonnie Banane) 04:16
• 3 Lac Du Cerf (feat. Christine Ott) 04:57
• 4 Nos Meilleures Vies (feat. Teki Latex) 03:54
• 5 Wonderfoule (feat. Arielle Dombasle) 02:46
• 6 Cut Dick 02:58
• 7 Romance Sans Paroles No 3 02:27
• 8 Gangstavour 01:22
• 9 Piano A Paris (feat. Juliette Armanet) 03:32
• 10 Richard Et Moi (feat. Richard Clayderman) 02:11
• 11 Message Personnel 02:16
• Total Runtime 34:19

Info for French Kiss

Chilly Gonzales is a phenomenon. The 51-year-old singer, pianist, producer and entertainer continues to blur the boundaries between classical music, jazz, electronic, pop and even rap in brilliant and often surprising ways. The Canadian artist, whose real name is Jason Charles Beck, has worked with artists such as Feist, Drake, Jarvis Cocker and Daft Punk, among others. Nothing seems to be musically impossible for him.

On his new album “French Kiss”, the multiple Grammy winner has dedicated himself to French sounds. The inspiration came to him in Paris, where he lived for several years before settling in his current adopted home of Cologne. It is his first album in French, or “the language of Molière and Bangalter,” as the accompanying text says. The latter refers to Thomas Bangalter, one half of the now disbanded band Daft Punk.

As so often, Chilly Gonzales combines musical genius with wordplay on his new long player. When he starts off singing "Je vous French Kiss" in an almost unsteady manner to the sounds of Claude Debussy's "Clair de lune", you can't help but smile. And also with the bizarre, provocative rhymes that follow: “Je parle anglais comme Tony Blair, je parle anglais Adolf Hitler, mais en français je prononce le R.” (“I speak English like Tony Blair, I speak German like Adolf Hitler. But in French I emphasize the R.”)

The unpredictable Gonzales sings - and speaks - the duet "Il Pleut Sur Notre-Dame" - a dreamy chanson - with singer Bonnie Banane. On the instrumental track "Lac Du Cerf", the pianist is accompanied by the French musician Christine Ott on the Ondes Martenot - a monophonic electronic musical instrument that works and sounds similar to a theremin. The result is a wonderfully atmospheric piece.

The eponymous “Cut Dick” is a song by the French artist Quentin Dupieux, also known as Mr. Oizo, who had a big hit with “Flat Beat” in 1999. He always imagined an orchestrated version of this, says Gonzales in the PR text. He had already played the song live. With Dupieux's blessing, he has now "gonzified" "Cut Dick" on his album. The song “Richard Et Moi” is dedicated to the cuddly pianist Richard Clayderman, who, fittingly, also plays. He talks about Clayderman's big hit "Ballade Pour Adeline" and Astérix and Obélix.

The wordplay in most of the songs can hardly be translated and many things can only be understood with appropriate language skills. But even without understanding the lyrics, Chilly Gonzales captivates his listeners with “French Kiss” because musically and melodically the album conveys a wonderful lightness and a pleasant, hard-to-describe nostalgia. That sounds, to sum it up with a song title from the album, “Wonderfoule”.

Chilly Gonzales

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