World-pop outfit Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains have revealed that they’ll be releasing their fourth album Solide Mirage via Domino on 3rd March. As the title suggests, it’s designed as a shifting record that changes upon each listen, and has been inspired by profound questions Frànçois Marry and the band asked themselves in the wake of recent current events.
Marry said: “We questioned ourselves a lot. It’s delicate to speak about politics in songs, but inevitable when you write in moments like these. I have a natural attraction to abstract poetry but I realised that it had become a head-in-the-sand technique. I do not understand why musicians do not ask themselves more questions about the responsibility of their words. And considering the realities of life in the year 2015, I had to think about what we wanted to say.”
To coincide with the announcement, the band have shared first single ‘Grand Dereglement’ as well as an accompanying video, which has been directed by Frànçois and Jack Barraclough. It’s also a collaboration with Palestinian Dabké dancer Mohamed Okal, who fled with his family from conflict in Gaza, where he once worked as an ambulance driver. The pair met at a volunteer refugee space in Brussels.
On the video, Marry said: “The lyrics of the song are about the great changes in the world that move populations, and force the weaker to adapt to an intense and strenuous lifestyle. Filming Dabké dancing inside one the most emblematic buildings of the Capital of Europe (Palais de Justice) is a way of showing the positive side of civilisation shifts.” Watch below.
Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains will also be heading out on a short UK tour in March. Details below.
27th March – Moth Club, London
28th March – Thekla, Bristol
29th March – Soup Kitchen, Manchester
30th March – Mono, Glasgow
31st March – Arts Centre, Norwich
Photo credit: Tom Joye
