Mike Patton and renowned French composer Jean-Claude Vannier, share the video for “Chansons D’Amour“. The song is from the pair’s recently announced collaboration, Corpse Flower, due to be released on Ipecac Recordings, Sept. 13.
Watch the video below.
“When I was a little boy, love songs terrified me, with their stupid Ophelias, faded flowers of melodramatics singers, quavering vocalises of another time, barbaric rituals, screams of impatient sexes, furious and bloody refrains, like in this beautiful and poisonous video,” said Vannier. “Afterwards, I lived some love stories and it was even worse, all a bazaar puppet show that moved me despite myself, took me hostage and blames me for these crimes that I did not commit.”
Director Eric Livingston added: “The melody on ‘Chansons D’Amour’ chased me around in the back of my head for a few days after listening. I found it to be a haunting and unapologetically honest version of Vannier’s original piece. When I was given the choice between a few songs to shoot a video accompaniment for, I gravitated towards this one. Mainly, because I knew it would be a challenge for me. To film something that is subtle, yet demands attention.”
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.