Astrïd and Sylvain Chauveau cover six iconic songs, originally performed by Lana Del Rey, Beth Gibbons/Portishead, Nina Simone, Gillian Welch, Nancy Sinatra and Kate Bush. The lyrics from these songs have been retained, with radically new musical arrangements developed and performed by Astrïd and Sylvain Chauveau. The result is carefully balanced between fragility and strength, charting a patient and resonant course through a series of haunting moods.

This is Astrïd’s second album on the False Walls label, following Always Digging The Same Hole in 2023.

Astrïd and Sylvain Chauveau previously released the collaborative album Butterfly in the Snowfall in 2014, and have played shows together and with Rachel Grimes.

Sylvain often covers songs, changing the original music using electronic or a minimalistic harmonium. For their new collaboration, Astrïd and Sylvain decided to work together for the first time on an album of cover songs, starting with Nina Simone’s version of Dambala, then Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang (a song Sylvain regularly performs live). These two songs pointed towards the concept of the album: all iconic songs originally written and/or performed by woman singers.

As the musicians all live in different places, the album took some time to be recorded, across different sessions in Nantes, France. The album is also the last recording on which Guillaume Wickel appears, after he sadly passed in 2022. His disease and death put the album on hiatus for some time, before Cyril Secq started to work on it again and did the final mixes. The record is dedicated to Guillaume.

The CD packaging was conceived by visual artists Alix Petit & Julien Nédélec across a 6-panel gatefold sleeve, 12 page CD booklet and CD sleeve. Their artwork references the artwork from the albums where the original songs appeared. Julien and Alix printed the original album sleeves, then used a wet paint brush to isolate areas of the cover artwork, reversed the prints then quickly photographed the results. In some ways these abstracted versions of the original album covers mirrors the relationship between the original songs and the new cover versions. The album artwork appears to be like paintings, like stigmata of the original images.

“ … the way these artists reconstructed the songs musically is nothing short of amazing. … Each track brings forth a unique feeling, sometimes vastly different from the original and other times, intensely magnifying the messages and feelings of the original.”
— The Shrieking Fox Punk

Songs and original credits:
Video Games: written by Elizabeth Grant and Justin Parker, performed by Lana Del Rey
Machine Gun: written by Geoff Barrow and Beth Gibbons, performed by Portishead
Dambala: written by Exuma, performed by Nina Simone
Everything Is Free: written and performed by Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings
Bang Bang: written by Sonny Bono, performed by Nancy Sinatra
Running Up That Hill: written and performed by Kate Bush

Words by the artists above; music arranged and performed by Astrïd & Sylvain Chauveau

Vanina Andréani: violin
Sylvain Chauveau: vocals, harmonium, piano
Yvan Ros: drums, metallophone
Cyril Secq: guitars, piano, juno, harmonium, metallophone
Guillaume Wickel: clarinets, rhodes

Recorded and mixed by Cyril Secq
Mastered by Ian Hawgood

Artwork: Salle des fêtes by Alix Petit & Julien Nédélec
Graphic design by David Caines

Astrïd:

Founded in 1997 by Cyril Secq and Yvan Ros as a guitar/drums duo, Astrïd subsequently expanded and settled around the violin player Vanina Andreani (1998), followed by the clarinet player Guillaume Wickel (2005). Band member Guillaume Wickel sadly died in 2022. The core of the group is based in Nantes, France.

Astrïd’s instrumental and expansive music has been inspired by improvised music, folk, post-rock and jazz, as well as by classical and contemporary composers, from Ravel to Arvo Pärt. Their work has been released across a number of albums on various labels, including Gizeh Records, Monotype Records and Rune Grammofon. Always Digging The Same Hole was released by False Walls in 2023. Collaboration with other musicians informed Astrïd’s joint release with Rachel Grimes, Through the Sparkle (2017), and Cyril Secq has released duo albums with Sylvain Chauveau and Orla Wren.

“The fact that their music hasn’t reached more ears is yet another mind-boggling event that is sadly becoming all too familiar across the underground landscape. … A release heavy with emotive, sullen atmospheres and tempo shifts that echo the likes of Chris Abrahams and The Necks …”
— Sun-13 review

“Astrïd manages to make a deep impression every time. … unfolded in a cinematic and rustic way. You have to look for it somewhere between Dictaphone, Set Fire To Flames, Rachel’s, Talk Talk, Boxhead Ensemble, The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and Slow Six. It is majestic masterful magic that they bring out here.” — Subjectivism review

https://musicforastrid.bandcamp.com

Sylvain Chauveau:

Sylvain Chauveau has released numerous records on labels such as FatCat, Sub Rosa, Type, Les Disques du Soleil et de l’Acier, Brocoli, Flau: minimal, quiet compositions for acoustic instruments, electronics, silences, and sometimes voice.

He plays live internationally; his music has been performed by pianists such as Vanessa Wagner, Melaine Dalibert or François Mardirossian; one of his compositions is on the compilation XVI Reflections on Classical Music (Decca/Universal), and he had two tracks featured on the Kompakt compilation Pop Ambient. He composed a 7-year long piece entitled You Will Leave No Mark On The Winter Snow, full of silence and featuring only seventeen moments of hearable sounds, which was played online from 2012 to 2019.

Sylvain is a founding member of ensemble 0 (co-directed with Stéphane Garin). He was born in Bayonne (France) in 1971 and currently lives in Barcelona.

“Toe-dipping in the paradigms of rock & pop music while being further removed from genre norms” — Pitchfork
“His music is sparing, unassuming and accordingly effective” — The Wire
“One of the most brilliant minds of french music” — Les Inrockuptibles
“Devastatingly effective” — The Guardian
“Tranquil, meditative” — The Quietus

https://www.sylvainchauveau.com/

CDs ordered from False Walls and Bandcamp are mailed from the UK. Other places where you can find or order False Walls CDs are shown here.

Physical/digital release: July 18, 2025
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