Sebastien Tellier Myspace

“It’s very electronic and like intellectual R&B, although not in the same way that Beyoncé or Justin Timberlake are R&B … When you listen to US R&B, if it is very exciting you can be excited with your girlfriend but usually it’s too vulgar. I tried to keep vulgarity away from sex and my music.” – Sebastien Tellier

 AUSTRALIA FINALLY GETS A TASTE OF SEXUALITY 

The Federal Government’s pornography filter has been tanked in the senate. Lesbian romance will shortly appear on Home and Away. Australia is clearly eager for a taste of sexuality … Sebastien Tellier’s Sexuality, that is!

Produced by none other than Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (of Daft Punk), Sexuality is a seductive album layered with eighties synths and Tellier’s honeyed baritone. The subject matter is, of course, sex – but it’s unlike any other album about sex. Instead of bravado and tales of willing groupies, Tellier opens up about his own peculiarities: his envy of bisexual people, his fetishisation of sportswear, his association of sexual stamina with the Germanic character, the perfect moment of “la petite mort” after orgasm. The instrumentation is delightfully tacky (and isn’t all sex a little tacky?), his synthesiser tones as day-glo as a neon pink vibrator.

Sebastien Tellier’s career began in 2001, when Parisian taste-makers Air picked him to appear on their newly-founded Record Makers label. L’Incroyable Verité, his first album, was mixed by Quentin Dupieux, better known as Mr. Oizo. He made his name with 2005’s Politics, which featured the hit track ‘La Ritournelle,’ described by Boomkat as “somehow managing to merge the timeless genius of ‘Unfinished Sympathy’ with the nostalgic baladeering of Air at their finest.” After this dancefloor coup, Tellier went on to cement his reputation with the 2006 compilation Universe, which collected acoustic versions of his songs from L’Incroyable Verité, Politics, and his soundtrack to the film Narco.

 Since then, Tellier’s been a busy man, working on the soundtrack to Quentin Dupieux’s début film, Steak (a role he shared with Mr. Oizo and Ed Banger wünderkind SebastiAn). His song ‘Universe’ featured on the soundtrack to Daft Punk’s first feature film, Electroma, and Guy-Manuel de Homm-Christo took time out from Daft Punk’s already-legendary Alive 2007 tour to produce Sexuality. Since the European release of Sexuality, he’s collaborated with American Apparel to release his own line of clothing (named, of course, Sexual: IT). He was also selected to represent France in the 2008 Eurovision song contest with the track ‘Divine’ (from Sexuality).

 With one of the best album covers of the year, and an even better album underneath, Sexuality will take Australia by storm!

 SEXUALITY IS AVAILABLE NOW IN ALL AMERICAN APPAREL RETAIL SHOPS AND ONLINE FROM ITUNES.

Talking Points:

— Has collaborated with the crème de la crème of the French music scene including Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo (Daft Punk), Mr. Oizo and SebastiAn (Ed Banger records).

— Was selected as France’s entry for Eurovision 2008, despite opposition from France’s prime minister, Nicolas Sarkozy (who thought he wasn’t French enough).

— Has had his music featured in several films and TV shows: Daft Punk’s film Electroma, Sofia Coppola’s Lost In Translation, and Ugly Betty (which used several tracks, including ‘La Rotournelle’ and ‘Look’ from Sexuality).

— Collaborated with American Apparel to deliver Sexual: IT, a line of clothing based around Sexuality.

— Has had video clips filmed by Francois and Jonas (Madonna/Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Justice), rising young creatives Fleur and Manu (who have directed ads for Becks and Peugeot), and Roman Coppola (Phoenix, Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk, Arctic Monkeys).

 — REMIXES of original tracks on Sexuality: A-TRAK – Kilometer, currently on high rotation on triple j (A-TRAK/onelove compilation), AEROPLANE – Kilometer ‘LEAVE THEM ALL BEHIND 3’/ (Modular compilation), BOYZNOISE-L’amour et la Violence

Track by track with Tellier:

Roche: “I always used to spend my holidays there. I always wanted to return, play my music and say to myself, ‘Tonight, I’m king of the night.’ In this song, the sun is beating down and I’m having really intense fantasies about girls in bikinis. If I wanted to seduce them, I’d play this song which is a European or French twist on the sexual enchantment that you’d associate with American R&B.”

Kilometer: “With this song, you should try and think of Justin Timberlake, but from Berlin instead – a mix of American sensuality and cold Teutonic precision. It’s my vision of German love: the motorway which runs for miles.”

Look: “This is a song about the Latin style of seduction – completely based on appearances. I like knowing that a woman has taken the time to make herself look attractive. ‘Look’ is about the little bit of skin between the mini skirt and stockings. I’m talking about sex here in a wise and serious manner, like an analyst elegantly trying to pick up girls in a cocktail bar in New York.”

Divine: “This is my tribute to the Beach Boys and the Juicy Fruits (from the 1974 musical Phantom of the Paradise). It’s about a time of innocence – when having fun was more important than picking up girls. I visualise a bunch of kids playing on the beach and I’d really love to play with them.

Pomme: “This is the song which is most representative of the whole album. I see it as the most erotic as well as the sweetest. The apple is the forbidden fruit. The sun waits until the lovers have finished making love before rising. He doesn’t want to disturb them.”

Une heure: “I’m singing here about my admiration for bisexuals who have the chance of sampling all the types of pleasure. Bisexuality shows the greatest freedom of spirit – the genuinely cool people are bisexuals. It was the first erotic song that I wrote; I wanted to make it last an hour. It triggered something off in my mind, which resulted in the album.”

Sexual Sportswear: “The first single. An instrumental. This track is the best representation of my relationship with Guy-Man: My moving harmonies mixed with the efficiency and lightness of Daft Punk. For me, the ultimate fantasy is a girl in a tracksuit working out in her living room. She has two coaches who make her work her glutes and her abs … things can only get messy from there.”

Elle: “Composed with Guy-Man, it’s the ‘Fox and the Hound’ song of the album. It’s impossible to reach orgasm without some closeness and tenderness at least. The key to sex is love. It’s a very pure song which resembles heaven.”

Fingers of Steel: “This song is about the Kubrickian fantasy of the machine which is self-aware. The computer touches me here sensually with its fingers of steel. From our union comes this song.”

Manty: “I love classical music; it’s a huge inspiration for me. My starting point here is the universe of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette: a mix of discretion and glitz which for me is extremely sexy. I imagine myself in the middle of making love on a sailboat as large as Italy. This is what happened to me this summer. Living your fantasies is for me a good example of a successful life.”

L’amour et la violence: “It’s the title which sums up what I’ve lived through in the most profound way. It shows that the rest of the album is a huge fantasy where I’m searching for intensity in the superficial. With ‘Love and Violence’, I’m finally revealing myself – I have neither the skin of a stallion nor a virgin, I’m naked and I ask that people judge me as I really am.”