Satellite Jockey
Satellite Jockey; photographed by Lise Dua.
Lyon, France’s power pop geniuses Satellite Jockey are back with their new album Modern Life available April 21 from the imprints Another Record, AB Records, Montagne Sacrée Records, Le Pop Club Records and today we are here to help them celebrate with a viewing of their video for “Copernicus” followed by some exclusive thoughts from the band. A group that has enriched your life with works like their Looking for a shelter EP from 2012, Stars from 2013 to 2015’s Falling—Modern Life finds the group emulating & elevating your favorite vintage styles & fashions worn with a kind of pride with the exhilaration of finding one’s favorite threads at an obscure thrift store. From the dazzling opener “Copernicus”, one can’t help but imagining George Harrison smiling onward from the alternate dimensions, as the group wears their 60s psych-party best on the joyous fun of “Misery”, to the happenstance insta-party jubilation of “She Came Out of Nowhere” guaranteed to leave everyone with ear to ear smiles.
Living up to the radio-transmitter signal-sender of their moniker, the group switches up their styles with the swiftest of ease like a series of quick costume changes. This is heard on the spaced-out Samba-lounge of “~~~~~” that serves as an interlude introduction to “Long is The Road” that sets out on a well harmonized & haunted trip that makes for a journey that feels like a time-traveling adventure back to the eras & scenes that you never had the chance to experience for yourself. Side a ends with “Opacity” that begins with sparse chamber folk that evolves into an ultra-electric wonderland that materializes right in front your ears & mind. Side b opens up with “Inside” that is a privy trip to the interior of the group’s creative methods that jumps all over the style-spectrum from skanking rhythms to Sgt. Peppers obsessions. Satellite Jockey deals in harmonies that stay with you like on “You Hide From Love” that once again hurls as many different eclectic items your direction as possible. Adventurism in everywhere on Modern Life, where the group soars to new heights on “The One Who Dares”, the maudlin moods of “United Nations”, that drifts outward to see that ends in a dazzling orchestral finale on the title track that sends you well upon your way with a grand fanfare.
The visual treatment for the lead off single “Copernicus” exemplifies everything we love about the group Satellite Jockey. That spirited sweet sound from the group is realized in cinematic form courtesy of Pauline Le Caignec Montage, Thibaut Le Hénaff & Florent Perrin with cosmic, vintage-analog looking effects from Victor Prunier with further reinforced support from comrades Jérémy Vessigot, Aurélien Bonne, Florian Adrien, Julie Darnat, Mathieu Gaud, Guillaume Toullec, Marion Wintreberg & more. Starring the group’s Valentin Poncet, Rémi Richarme, Alexander Van Pelt, Pauline Le Caignec, Clément Sbaffe, Christophe Chaine, Ianis Robin-Mylord, Nico Vincent, Florian Camus, Leslie Chanel (along with a few other cameos we might have missed) all entertain the Nicolaus Copernicus notions of astronomy that make their world orbit about the sun in an adventure of amour. Involving all the excited urgencies with all its trips & falls in-between-we see Satellite Jockey helping one another out that even involves a chance meeting of the Renaissance era astronomer/mathematician of historic lore. From bike racing routes of courtship that get emotions & energy all tangled up into the galactic fields of fondness & fancies; a light-hearted tale of attractions, intergalactic physics & scientific forces all goes wonderfully haywire as the classic character makes a move in the untold romantic story of “Copernicus” that is guaranteed to bring joy, light & a delighted smile to your day.
Satellite Jockey penned us the following exclusive introduction/preface to their new album Modern Life:
Our band is very glad to release this record that is the result of almost two years of work! We are proud of it! The recording process was very long, because we decided to record a bunch of 25 songs in the same time, so it was quite heavy sometimes… It’s a huge workload when you decide to do everything by yourself, but it allows you to take your time to do things exactly as you wanted. Therefore for the first time, we are fully satisfied by the final result of the album ! We had fun doing it, so we hope people will like it! We decided to take care of the sound part of the work. This time, we also made some videoclips by ourselves. But we fortunately have friends to help us as it is not our field.
Four labels are with us on this LP: Another Record, from Tours, that has been following us and helping us since the beginning in 2012, it’s a long distance relationship, but still always strong and faithful! We know AB Records (Lyon) from a long time too, we are good friends, we have bands together, and it’s the label of many of our musician friends (Valentin “Maramé” Lergès, the designer of the album cover is a founding member of AB Records). There is also Montagne Sacrée Records, from Paris, who released our last LP Falling with trust and motivation. And finally the newcomers Le Pop Club Records (Geneva/Lyon) who joined us for this new album, thanks to them! Indeed, we were very helped by friends for this new record, for the artwork,for the videos, for practical things, for advices, etc. A lot of them play in our new video “Copernicus”!
During the recording, we posted an ad on facebook inviting anyone who wanted to play a solo of his/her instrument on the new album. We had a bunch of proposals and in the end you can hear trombone, erhu, harpsichord, or marimba tracks, sent to us by internet and incorporated in the album 🙂
Hope you will enjoy this album!
(If you liked it, here are some music suggestions from Lyon : Fun Fun Funeral, Kcidy, Tôle Froide, François Virot, Sierra Manhattan, Alexander Van Pelt, Le Méchant, etc)
Satellite Jockey’s new album Modern Life will be available April 21 via the labels Another Record, AB Records, Montagne Sacrée Records & Le Pop Club Records.
Catch Satellite Jockey view the following dates around France:
April
21 Bourg en Bresse, Tanneries
22 Lausanne, Le Bourg
23 Bienne, TBA
24 Paris, Supersonic
25 Lille, TBA
26 Caen, Portobello
27 Brest, U.B.O
28 Rennes, Tavarn Roazhon
