aaamusic | On 09, Aug 2011

‘My name is Florian and I and I enjoy writing very short stories. Sometimes these are set to music. I am writing a collection of songs every season for the rest of my life.’

 

These short stories – at times surreal, mystical, dreamlike in theme, at others touching and personal have been put to music in a sequence of seasonally produced recordings that began with ‘Spring 2011.’ Each season is being recorded in studios around the world: Spring in London, Summer in LA and Autumn to follow in Stockholm. Presented here is an EP with the songs from the Spring and Summer collections.

 

“The idea was born from my frustration at not being able to write a coherent album and the fact that my mood and relationship with music changes with the seasons.”

 

It’s hard to place Lunaire’s music. ‘Amsterdam’ sits someplace between the brutally moreish dark piano of John Cale’s ‘Fear’ and ‘Paris 1919’ era records; ‘Forever Young’ has the rhyming rhythmic wordplay of 90s Tribe Called Quest (“on his backpack there’s a Black Flag badge and he asks me where I’m from”) set to a suitably hip-hop beat. ‘Capture/Release’ is a delicate, evocative ballad to past love, rich in tender, fragile emotion. Throughout, his sharp, wide-eyed observational lyrics are delivered with his trademark rasping voice, well travelled from Tibet to London via Provincial France.

 

Lunaire’s instrument is the piano. He plays it with a clever, often discordant left hand, which pulls and tugs at the seemingly simple melodies that are embellished with at times euphoric key-changes, soft haunting backing vocals and doleful strings from Gillian Maguire and drums from Peter Havard (both from Florian’s band Disappearers.)

 

After travelling to London from Nice, Florian met Aaron Horn, son of legendary producer Trevor, at a party. The two hit it off and started recording in downtime at Horn’s Sarm studios in West London. They would hit the studio at night-time, moonlighting between Madonna and Robbie Williams sessions, giving rise to the name ‘Lunaire.’

 

The sessions produced ‘The Mondestrunken EP’ that came out on Stiff Records in 2008 under the name F Lunaire. At the same time, Florian toured with Kid Harpoon, playing piano in his band, all the while quietly honing his playing and song-writing.

 

Growing weary of performing solo, Lunaire set up new band Disappearers (NME’s 50 bands of 2011). In the next twist he brought his solo work back in order to focus his different writing styles, using Disappearers as his backing band, this time under the name Florian Lunaire. His live shows are captivating, starting with piano then building up further with added instruments as players take to the stage.

 

Lunaire’s Spring/Summer collection displays his talent for pop – smart and musically and lyrically complex – with tunes, hooks, beats and most importantly, passion and depth. He constantly engages with his audience through this unique release schedule of seasonally timed records and blog entries that include free music and writings.