Cradled both by Anglo-Saxon music of the 60s and 70s and French song, Stéphane Portelli has for twenty years written, composed and performed a subtle blend of these two influences. A guitar game that draws on his youthful loves, from Clapton to Knopfler through rock classics or the great bluesmen and a feather in love with words and poetry, from Brel to Françoise Sagan.
This association of the language of Molière with sounds reminiscent of Led Zeppelin, the Stones or Jimi Hendrix, is part of an approach that can be found in artists like Paul Person, Louis Bertignac or even Trust.
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And these twenty years of career under his name are accompanied by the release of a fifth album: The madman’s shop, available since October 20 on all platforms and which will be released in 2022 in vinyl format.
An album where Stéphane Portelli presents his universe populated by “all souls who refuse uniformity, whether physical or moral”. The title track is a guided tour of this poetic bubble that evokes the spirit of The fisherman’s hut by Francis Cabrel. “We meet artists, idealists in search of freedom”, explains the songwriter from Gard.
This utopian spirit and its aspiration for freedom are expressed in particular in the first single Boom Boom Boom released this summer. A summer atmosphere, but which actually relates the impressions felt from the start of the first confinement. Written on March 17, 2020, the text came spontaneously.
I sat at my window, and seeing this desert around me, I imagined hearing the music of the Italians, already confined before us, who sang on their balcony
The atmosphere of the clip and the song represents this southern state of mind in which the musician lives. A “carpe diem” that invites you to “do not forget that our eyes must continue to shine in sweet madness”.
This freshness, Stéphane Portelli also wanted to keep it in the way of recording. The Toulouse studio La Trappe, fully equipped with analog and vintage equipment, made it possible to obtain a warm and organic sound. But above all, it is by playing live that the musicians have been able to preserve the spontaneity of their interpretation.
Together in the same room and keeping only one take each time, the guitar-bass-drums trio played without a net, as in concert, “to touch with your finger this fragility which gives a human value to music”.
The energetic and rough Vegas which opens the disc alongside pieces with more atmospheric arrangements such as for example In the sweetness of an evening. A text that pays homage to Mark Knopfler through several titles of songs by Dire Straits. Stéphane Portelli has not forgotten his emotion felt during the guitar-hero’s concert in Nîmes two years ago, during his farewell tour.
This Crazy Shop is thus adorned with music that does not cheat. And on the same wavelength, the lyrics explore emotions that will delve deep into the depths of human beings. Addiction, passion, obsession are portrayed bluntly. From the flayed White alarm at twilight That’s all, through the final Like a chameleon and its verses which could make one think of Thiéfaine: “am I a chameleon on a Scottish blanket?”, asks Stéphane Portelli.
The answer is up to him. But what is certain is that his multi-colored music perfectly matches the richness of his words. And his songs invite us to express the touch of madness that is in us by throwing ourselves headlong into his shop.
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The album “La boutique des fous” was released on October 20 on all platforms, it will be released in 2022 in vinyl format.
All the info on the official website or the Facebook page