Hot Chip lead singer Alexis Taylor has announced details of his forthcoming solo album, Paris In The Spring, which is set to land on 13 March on Night Time Stories.
The album, which features contributions from Nicolas Godin of Air, Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, The Avalanches, Étienne de Crécy, Ewan Pearson, Lola Kirke, Pierre Rousseau of Paradis, and Elizabeth White of Pale Blue, is described as Taylor’s ‘most revealing album’ to date, ‘peeling back the layers of his psyche to reveal sentiments both specific and universal’.
The bulk of the album was recorded at Godin’s studio in Paris, which came about following a collaboration between the two in 2020.
This “creative cocoon” was an equipment aficionado’s dream, Taylor says, with kit ranging “from a grand piano, vibraphone and clavinet to old drum machines, a Fender Rhodes and a Mellotron”.
The album’s tracks cover various themes, including battling demons, losing friends, personal reflection, and the process of repeating mistakes.
For example, the track I Can Feel Your Love, which sees Taylor team up with The Avalanches and Étienne de Crécy, “feels like it could be about something heavenly and sublime, or is it about a person’s deep admiration for another?” says Taylor. “It had this disco vibe that was really uplifting. I was truly inspired by it, and the words came quickly. It’s a positive-sounding song, I think.”
There’s also room for a cover of The Rolling Stones’ classic Wild Horses, with Taylor observing, “I like covering famous songs and then turning them on their head”.
Ultimately, as a press release to announce Paris In The Spring put it, this is an album about freedom, ‘from constraints, from preconceptions, from genre’.
“Sometimes an audience wants to be told, what is this?” says Taylor. “And I’m refusing to do that. You can find great things in music when you open up to real listening. No one needs to be told ‘what something is’, otherwise why would we be making something so straightforward? Be ready to be surprised, to find something new in music, and let the music resonate with you.”
Alexis Taylor – Paris In The Spring will be available on vinyl, CD, download, and streaming platforms from 13 March. You can pre-order it here.
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