There once was another Sébastien Tellier – “a lone wolf,” as the Parisian pop genius puts it. Then he fell in love. Then, came marriage. After that, came kids, till one day, the acclaimed synth-loving songwriter found himself alone in his home, entranced by a toaster. “I was just listening to music when suddenly, I started to notice all the everyday objects surrounding me,” he laughs. “Domestication is a universal subject, an experience, we all go through,” he explains. “It’s a good life! I feel like I really exist now. On the cult star’s sixth studio album, his first in five years, Tellier explores this topic in typically dreamy, lo-fi fashion. An airy, electronic adventure full of eclecticism and eccentricism, Domesticated is the French national treasure at his delightful best. Across a twodecade-spanning career – in which he’s been sampled by the Weeknd, worked with everyone from Jean-Michel Jarre to Mr Oizo and gatecrashed the Eurovision Song Contest in a golf cart – Tellier’s music has taken us to exotic places. There’s nothing chore-like about the eight songs on Domesticated, however. From echoing opener ‘A Ballet’ – its name a pun on “ballet” and the French word for “broom” – to the ‘80s electro slink of Venezia, the album is a joyous Franco-pop fantasia. Tellier rates it as his most melodically refined work yet. “I arranged all the music around my voice – vocal melodies first,” he says. “It’s an electronic record but it’s not driven by synths and drum machines going “durm, durm durm!” I put melody first. Rhythm in music is order. But melody is the humanity.” The result is a floaty, emotive pop wonderland to immerse yourself in. From 200 songs composed for the album, he whittled the record down to eight. The “lone wolf” Sébastien Tellier may be gone. But on Domesticated, the brilliant, humourful master of melody Sébastien Tellier lives on, more riveting than ever.
