CHAPELIER FOU

Presenting "613" is surely no easy task for doing so is risking to be incomplete, approximative and quickly go short of words. Just like any masterpiece, talking about it can become perilous and let you fear it may blow up in your face like a grenade would. Indeed, 613 is the exact number of pellets contained in a grenade and the pick of this title by Louis Warynski (aka Chapelier Fou) is certainly no coincidence!
Beside its whole-number title this record holds another beautiful incongruity, it respects the squaring of the circle so dear to quality music. Mad, mysterious, bewitching, as strange as implacable... is what you could think of this law of nature and of the music on this genuine debut album by Chapelier Fou. He is still the genial electronic fiddler and violin virtuoso that we had discovered on his first two EPs ("Darling, darling, darling..." & "Scandale") ! But the progression so far is stunning.
No doubt that his numerous and remarkable performances on French stages (Printemps de Bourges 08 Discovery, Eurockennes 09 Revelation) have made this one-man band more mature and led him to approach other instruments (guitar, cello or bouzouki) with his desires as the only limit. We already knew of the need for some originally electronic musicians to smartly have a go at classical music - Amon Tobin or Murcof, to name a few but never before had we witnessed such a great balance between the genres. Under the stunningly fresh and powerfully catchy melodies, hides a multiple-layers album the nature of which can only be grabbed when listened to many (613 ?) times.
On the classical side, his sensitivity, his catchy tunes and the choice of the violin as a central instrument recall altogether his elder brother Yann Tiersen ("Luggage", "Le quart de ton") and his fathers Gavin Bryars or Pinguin Cafe Orchestra ("Elle est l'eau qui fait le torrent", "Luggage"), or even his grand-father Stokhausen for the research on sounds. It is obvious Louis listened to those and even studied them when a student at the conservatory.
Still, it would be absurd to stick to this simple comparison or to limit his electronic influence to Boards of Canada or Brian Eno for the ambiant moments, Amon Tobin or Four Tet for the perfect
rhythms, Animal Collective for the intuitive fiddlings and the cheek.
Just like any exceptional composer, Louis Warynski has been able to integrate his influences to produce his own unique version.
At 26, Chapelier Fou is not only an outstanding acrobat on stage, he is also an alchemist able to create a new formula for each track with a rare intelligence and to bewilder his - often young
audience thanks to his savoir-faire and obvious generosity.
No wonder then that Matt Elliott offering his unique voice on "Half of the Time" invited this magician to join The Third Eye Foundation alongside Yann Tiersen, both on stage and for
the recording of a new album.