The theatrical footage of Les Lunatiques by Segundo De Chomon is a well-chosen visual accompaniment to this charmingly vintage-sounding song from The Rodins. singer, song-writer and guitarist Chris Malcarney has followed many musical paths during his career, including forming the Philadelphia Ukulele Orchestra, forming tribute acts for Lone Justice and Tom Waits and founding The Donuts. However, this project may be his most intriguing endeavour yet. In collaboration with a large number of artists from the Philidelphia music scene: Magnolia Electric Company, Marah, Philadelphia Ukulele Orchestra, John Train, the Donuts, Nixon’s Head, the actual Philadelphia Orchestra, Rome 56, Beretta 76, the Silence, Baby Flamehead, the Low Road and Slo-Mo, Malcarney has to write French pop music in French. In his own words, it “…is an attempt at French Pop by a guy who just read a Wikipedia entry about it without actually hearing what it sounded like. The lyrics were written using Google translate and a French rhyming dictionary.” It’s creative and adventurous and displays a determination to express himself without worrying about trend or fashion. In order to make this even more challenging, the obscure chosen theme for this song is the 19th century French-Canadian fur trapping trade. The end result is a unique sound that the Philadelphia-friends put together over a number of years. Malcarney (vocals, guitar, keyboards) collaborated with Mark Schreiber (drums, banjolele, percussion), Derek Cheever (bass, percussion) and Andy Bresnan (tuba) ‘Voyageur’.
‘Voyaguer’ is the final track from The Rodins’ self-titled EP (Jeu Prolongé – Extended Play), which is out now. Check it out.
