Paris With a Parisian

Wax Tailor offers a childhood tale, in his own way…

With “Dusty Rainbow from the Dark”, the French trip-hop alchemist proves again that he can turn vintage into gold. 

Wax Tailor is no longer a secret. Since 2007 and his magistral “Hope and Sorrow” he has conquered the world and has taken the seat of one of the most famous downtempo composer. His mixes going from 60s soul to hip-hop electronica have taken possession of ears worldwide, and he has been on tour on all continents, from LA to Nepal… But what’s next, after that?

Jean-Christophe Le Saoût, aka Wax Tailor, probably didn’t ask himself the question. He just makes sounds, and creates music, and that’s the beauty of it. For Wax Tailor’s last effort, he wanted to tell a story. That’s not actually surprising for somebody who is so cinematic: not only his pieces are perfect soundtracks, but a substantial amount of his samples comes from original movie soundtracks (with a lot from Hitchkock movies…). Besides, it seems to be something that is to be found a lot among these typical French Touch musicians who work alone, and who want to created universes (You can read the article on Kavinsky, the Testarossa zombie, or simply go back to Daft Punk’s Discovery when seen as an animation movie Interstella 5555).

But Wax Tailor doesn’t go Sci-fi or Zombie, no, he explores a child’s imagination with a tale about the Rainbow being a path between light and darkness. And of course, it starts with a kid in his bedroom, with records and turn tables…

Right away, the album has a certain je-ne-sais-quoi of Tim Burton, and the calm, strange narrative voice ads to the feeling. He even chose Rebecca Dautremer for the art, a very famous french illustrator that has a strong lowbrow, almost gothic line. You can hardly escape from that, the mix Kid/weird/Electronica often leads to that burtonesque eerie atmosphere, and that’s rather pleasant. But JC le Saoût has more than one influence to fool around… Here, in “Down in Flames”, you suddenly feel like a secret Portishead tune has been rediscovered in a toy trunk. There, in ” The Sound”, you go back to the East Coast hip-hop scene and jam in da street. Further, in “No”, the shadows of Aretha Franklin and Amy Winehouse are dancing above your little bed. And “Heart stop” has the grove of a great radio edit…

So there is definitely something in that rainbow. Something more than water and light. Something that requires you to get that sound and enjoy the mixes of styles that Wax Tailor, sitted in his bedroom, is assembling for you with talent…

Try it out:

Time to go: Time to Go

Dusty Rainbow: Dusty Rainbows (feat. Charlotte Savary)

Heart Stop: Heart Stop