Etienne Daho Pop Satori Virgin France, 1986 amazon

Despite the annoying aspects of my month long visit to France in 1989 (the usual anti-American arrogance, my hosts being two hours late picking me up at the airport), it was on the whole a good experience. I was there for the country's bicentennial, i got to spend two weeks in Paris and another two in Brittany, and i was introduced to Etienne Daho. The musical descendent of Serge Gainsbourg and more closely Jacques Dutronc, Daho brought a new wave pop element to the time-honed throaty chanteur style of French singers. By the end of my month there i had been most thoroughly exposed to his 1986 album Pop Satori, which (if only judging by Daho's "best of" selections) produced a string of hits. The playful "Épaule Tatoo" with a bouncy baseline and accompanying horns, the smoky "Paris, Le Flore" which always reminds me of the later Depeche Mode song "Policy of Truth" for its echoed, sustained synths, the silly yet still interesting "4000 Années D'horreur" and its descriptions of ghosts and ectoplasm. "Tombé Pour La France" is a new wave standard worthy of any UK trendsetter. The album closes with an English song, which much later i found was a cover of Syd Barrett's "Late Night". Daho would go on to more sophisticated electropop in the vein of Everything But The Girl, collaborating with St. Etienne (St. Etienne Daho, get it?). I've enjoyed the entirety of his career, but this album still holds a special place in my heart, listening to "Duel Au Soleil" while wandering through the beautiful backstreets of Paris.

login to submit comments