Sebastien Schuller
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Sebastien Schuller

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"Gorilla Vs Bear Evenfall review"

Evenfall is the upcoming LP from Paris' Sebastien Schuller (out May 25), and the album's stunning collage cover artwork is by one of my favorite artists, the amazing Agnes Montgomery. You may recall Montgomery's glorious Pool Party, which graced the cover of Panda Bear's Person Pitch, and is probably the most uncannily fitting album artwork of, well, ever. Listen to Schuller's new song from Evenfall, "The Border," at his myspace page. In the meantime, I was somehow unaware of the existence of this cover of Schuller's "Weeping Willow," by Austin's Jared Van Fleet, aka Sparrow House

http://gorillavsbear.blogspot.com/2009/04/evenfall.html - Gorilla Vs Bear Blog


"Stark Online Evenfall review"

We here at Stark have been sitting way too long on the amazing new record Evenfall, from French artist Sebastien Schuller. Not only is he a fantastic guy, he has made one of our subtly favorite records of 2009. Although spending much of his time in Europe touring, he will hopefully be making it back to the US before the fall. GVB wrote about the lovely cover art designed by Agnes Montgomery, who also designed Panda Bear's Person Pitch artwork. Amazingly, again the cover perfectly evokes the soft and gentle mood of Evenfall. To great success, Schuller blends whisps of Elbow, Air France and even the best elements of Chris Martin to create a unique set of electronic and organic melodies and songs. While Evenfall was due out on May 25th, we can't seem to find it online yet. We'll look into it for you. Perhaps only a European release.

http://starkmagazine.blogspot.com/2009/05/sebastian-schuller-evenfall.html - starkmagazine.blogspot.com


"What's on the Hifi - Evenfall review"

Sébastien Schuller's second album Evenfall is full of understated moments -- an impressive nuanced effort of restrained melodies. The Parisian's second release is decidely less electro-oriented than his debut "Happiness" and continues to reflect this occasional soundtrack composer's love of melancholy soundscapes.

Evenfall is rather neatly divided into two parts, opening along more organic lines and then evolving to incorporate chilly synth beats and warped vocal effects. The stunner "Open Organ" builds determinedly on waves of strings and horns, and all the while Sebastien's vocals remain reservedly pitched, gradually walking you to the edge of Sebastien's lyrical cliff.

Following the sober ballad "The Border" and the wisp of a demi-psychadelic instrumental "New York", the second half of Evenfall changes direction slightly and sees Sébastien bringing muted glitchy beats and effects into the works. On the particularly strong track "Last Time", the plaintive vocals seem to be engaged in a clever game of tag with the backing track which only catches up as the song winds down, all finally collapsing to catch their collective breath. The album closer "High Green Grass", sees the album come full circle, returning to a more paired down vocal style and backing piano chords, slowly building on beats which are never allowed to dominate.

As an album, Evenfall awakens rewardingly over time and draws the listener in with its evocative and spectral beauty.

For the keen observer: you might recognize the sleeve's distinctive collage style from Agnes Montgomery, who also created the great piece "Pool Party" for the cover for Panda Bear's Person Pitch.

http://www.whatsonthehifi.com/page6/page46/page46.html - www.whatsonthehifi.com


"MV Remix Urban - Hapiness review"

Happiness is an emotion which may posses a heartfelt melancholy intertwined within the bliss. Powerful music possesses these multi-interpretive and multi-dimensional emotions. The most impressive music weaves sorrow and delight together to create a compelling work of art. Music becomes a magically universal form of art when sincerity lies within the rhythms, lyrics, and melodies. Hailing from France, Sebastien Schuller is a magnificently unique and complicated artist who has this power to create such music. Released on Minty Fresh Records, Sebastien Schuller's debut album, "Happiness" is a glorious work of art drenched in both bittersweet pleasure and beautiful grief. As an artist, Schuller shares some common attributes with the cold wave French group known as Trisomie 21. The music of both Schuller and Trisomie 21 require an open mind and heart for a listener to fully appreciate the work. Underneath Schuller's thick accent and eccentric sound, intensity remains. This underlying power can make the music cross barriers of language, culture, geography, sex, and perhaps time.

As a journalist, I am sent a plethora of music from both illustrious and diminutive record labels. Sometimes, I am very familiar with the music and these familiarities create expectations. When Minty Fresh's delightful publicity department (Beth Martinez) sent me the "Happiness" LP by Sebastien Schuller. I have never heard of him or his music before. These days, an album must have a power to penetrate my wall of contempt made my disappointment of hearing poor music. From the initial moment I played the "Happiness" LP by Sebastien Schuller, I was amazed and delighted. This music snob was introduced to a refreshing new artist. These are the moments when I love being a music journalist.

Schuller had an enigmatic but relatable history. Previously, he released an EP titled "Weeping Willow". He is a classically trained percussionist. Throughout the years, he has become an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and composer. Working mainly from home, he mixes acoustic and electronic instruments to create enchantingly eclectic music. In the United Kingdom, he signed to Catalogue Records (home to artists such as Avia, Sancho, Playground, Alpha, and others). In the United States, he signed to Minty Fresh Records. Momus wrote a delightful song about the Minty Fresh label for his "Stars Forever" LP. The company is now one of the most respected and indie labels in the U.S. Minty Fresh is also home to All India Radio, The Living Blue, Kahimi Karie, The Orange Peels, Liz Phair, Ivy, The Cardigans, Bettie Serveert, and a myriad of other talented artists.

Released on Minty Fresh Records (U.S.) and Catalogue Records (U.K.), "Happiness" by Sebastien Schuller is a psychedelic and introspective maelstrom of melodic emotion. The album displays various influences from Radiohead, Bjork, David Bowie, Serge Gainsbourg, and others exceptional artists. "Tears Coming Home" is a heartbreaking anthem about the pains of returning to one's hometown. "Sleeping Song" is an enchantingly ethereal track that captures some of the mystery of sleep. The more up-tempo track, "Ride Along The Cliff" is a psychedelic masterpiece filled with romance and the poignancy of pleasure. Other excellent tracks include "Weeping Willow" and "Donkey Boy". "Happiness" by Sebastien Schuller is one of the most mature and most fascinating debut albums to be released in quite a long time.

Musically expressed emotion empowers and connects listeners. Every human being feels pain, bitterness, love, hate, fear, and passion. As long as musicians like Sebastien Schuller continue to create emotionally honest work, artists will continue to make music that will connect human beings of any and every kinds. "Happiness" by Sebastien Schuller is an album that found me. If this album does not find you, hunt the album down because even you need a little slice of happiness.

http://www.mvremix.com/urban/interviews/sebastien_schuller.shtml - www.mvremix.com


Discography

EP "Weeping Willow" (Capitol)
LP "Hapinness" (Le village Vert/PIAS/Minty Fresh)
LP "Evenfall" (G.U.M./PIAS)

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Bio

Sébastien Schuller
- “Evenfall”-

Long trips and major albums have in common the ability to push back the boundaries of the fantasy world, allowing shared emotions with strangers and brightening up the familiar, banality of everyday life by painting new experiences. From his debut in 2002 (“Weeping Willow”, his first remarkable and noted Ep) Sébastien Schuller has worked on building a repertoire, void of any musical and geographical confines. Happily exploring electronic or more acoustic sounds, between pop songs or ambient instrumentals, “Happiness” has set its mark as one of the most original albums of 2005, and was praised by many successful reviews.

As the months and years went by, Sebastien Schuller pursued his own artistic quest, spending his time between Philadelphia and Paris, discovering and meeting as many people as he could, especially while performing and supporting the release of his first album ( at “La route du Rock” and Montreux festivals in France…). His impressionist songs, ideally suited to the imaginary world, allow him to rub shoulders with another art form: the cinema. Franck Guerin trusted Sebastien to write the soundtrack for “Un jour d’été” (A summer’s day), and a few tracks from “Happiness” also inspired film directors such as Ernesto Contreras (Parpados Azules), John August (The Nines) or Dan Reed (Straightheads).

His return trips across the Atlantic also affected his musical work. As “Evenfall” now sounds strongly impregnated with a distant communion with a new family of remote American cousins, this up-and-coming generation of musicians for which the paving of genres and styles matters far less that the pursuit of unparalleled experiences. This new unbiased Union of Free Art exchanges and walks up a creative path freed from dogma. Sufjian Stevens, Animal Collective, Beirut…Just like them, Sébastien Schuller has now dropped the last anchor that held him to the electro safety place of his beginnings. This second album showcases a variety of sounds and feelings even broader than on his previous effort as it is very strongly subjugated by organic sounds and a vocal signature more clearly present. In addition it also benefits from external contributions (Richard Parry and Sarah Neufeld from Arcade Fire with their side project the Bell Orchestra on the sumptuous strings notes of “Open Organ”, produced whilst playing an Exquisite Corpse for the Cabaret Walter label) as well as from the use of original instruments (oboe, clarinet, flute, harmonium, vibraphone, brass section). Despite the same impressive touch of melodic purity, this light melancholic feel and the grasp of musical atmospheres, that defined “Happiness”, this new diversity of landscapes pictured along the way is staggering and disorienting: The sensitive morning promenade of “Morning Mist”, the radiant and sunny ambling of “The Border”, and especially the moonlight walk on “Midnight”, which returns us to more familiar environments.

Sebastien Schuller has, exquisitely, just invited us on the most beautiful of trips, a trip which he intends to extend along his upcoming tour (opening with the first gig scheduled for June 18th at La Cigale in Paris).