Ipecac is honoured to release the new album from legendary musician, composer and arranger, Jean Claude Vannier. Jean Claude Vannier et son orchestre de mandolines, out on Feb 14th, 2025 is a playful album of beautiful reveries composed on mandolin and accordion, that are both poetic and unrestrained. As a taster, the new track ‘La 2CV rouillée’ (‘The rusty 2CV’) has been shared.
About the new track, Vannier comments;
I’ve always dreamed of writing for a mandolin orchestra – the instrument’s tremors seemed apt to expose romantic and sentimental melodies. It brings back old memories.
On Sundays, my father used to take us to the countryside in his 2cv.
It’s a funny car, with the slightest change in speed, a flick of the brake or the gas pedal, and it rocks like a duck on the water.
During these drives, I was unable to see the landscape because I was seasick.
My father was an inventor, and had come up with a rudimentary air bag that went off at the slightest jolt.
Those rides in the countryside were a nightmare for me, and I now avoid trips in the 2CV…
A pinch of strings, a hint of childhood, melodies that touch the heart, orchestration that is always unexpected… these are just some of the elements to emerge from this album.
Ipecac is honoured to release the new album from legendary musician, composer and arranger, Jean Claude Vannier. Jean Claude Vannier et son orchestre de mandolines, out on Feb 14th, 2025 is a playful album of beautiful reveries composed on mandolin and accordion, that are both poetic and unrestrained. As of now, the new track ‘Comme les enfants savent aimer’ is shared.
About the new track, Vannier comments;
“When I was a child, my parents often took us to dinner at the restaurant in Parc Montsouris. There was a bandstand by the lake, with a few mandolins playing fashionable tunes, and the moon was shimmering on the surface of the water, where an enigmatic boat was moored. I would have loved to have gone with the waves, with the mandolines. Later, I spent many a night lying in the boat, dreaming of this music of love. All these memories led me to record this album with my mandolinist friend, Vincent Beer Demande.”
A pinch of strings, a hint of childhood, melodies that touch the heart, orchestration that is always unexpected… these are just some of the elements to emerge from this album.
Hear ‘Comme les enfants savent aimer’ here:
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Photo credit: Léo Alestro
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The album title translates as Jean Claude Vannier and his mandolin orchestra, and this marks the first time that the ever-creative composer has written specifically for the mandolin. The album features fellow enthusiast Vincent Beer-Demander, whose mandolin is multiplied by an orchestra to form a singular sound palette, carefully combined with the accordion of Grégory Daltin.
Mike Patton, who collaborated with Vannier on the 2019 release, Corpse Flower, has this to say about getting to put out his new album on Ipecac, ”Jean Claude is a dear friend, mentor and a wonderfully gifted and decorated composer. Read: LEGEND. To have worked with him is an unmitigated honour. His writing and arrangements have influenced an ocean of artists and I call myself one of the lucky ones who have crossed his path. He was writing ground-breaking stuff before I was born. He has affected me deeply and I’m forever grateful and in AWE.”
The album was created as a music score for a non-existent silent film, and tells the love story of a young boy we follow through time. The second single tells more of the story…
So at night, during the week, I’d climb the facade of her building, we’d kiss through the glass and me hanging off her balcony.
On the third floor.
It felt like a condom, this cold tile between her lipstick and our two tongues working like crazy.
We loved each other like children know how.
As if for the last time.
Jean Claude Vannier, whom the press refer to as “the rare bird”, has worked over the past 60 years most famously with Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, as well as artists such as Beck and Sean Lennon. He’s worked on countless soundtracks, released six solo albums and is a French pop-culture icon who’s composed for Eurovision, directed videos, exhibited paintings, hosted radio shows and published short stories.
This new album features mandolin virtuoso Vincent Beer-Demander, who has won multiple awards and collaborated with the French National Orchestra, Czeske Philharmonic, Mid-Atlantic Symphonic Orchestra and hundreds more around the world. Sounding like nothing else that either Demander nor Vannier has done before.
Also featured is Grégory Daltin, whose accordion playing brings another dimension to this beautiful album.
Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mondo Cane) and renowned French composer Jean-Claude Vannier, share the final glimpse into their new album by way of the album track ‘Browning’ ahead of the release of Corpse Flower (Ipecac Recordings, Sept 13th).
A variety of musicians, both in Los Angeles and Paris, took part in the recording of Corpse Flower with the Los Angeles team including Smokey Hormel (Beck, Johnny Cash), Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Air, Nine Inch Nails) and James Gadson (Beck, Jamie Lidell). The Parisian players are Denys Lable, Bernard Paganotti (Magma), Daniel Ciampolini, Didier Malherbe, Léonard Le Cloarec and the Bécon Palace String Ensemble. The lyrics for “Ballad C.3.3.” are drawn from Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol”’ poem, which was initially published using the name C.3.3.
Corpse Flower is available now for pre-orders (http://smarturl.it/CorpseFlower), including special embossed versions featuring Kenro Izu’s stunning cover photo. The album will be available on 180gram coloured vinyl, as well as a CD digipak and digitally.
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