Interview Cours Lapin (English Version)

Hailing from Denmark and singing in french, Cours Lapin is releasing his first album, called « 1,2,3 » this month. How come the best french music around is coming from a Danish band ???

1) Could you introduce yourself ?

P: My name is peder. Producer and Composer.

J: My name is Jonas Struck. Composer & Guitarist.

A: I'm Asger Baden. Composer & keyboard player

L: I am Louise Alenius, i like to write songs about strange things i dont understand which gives me alot of things to write about…

2) How did you find the band's name ?

L: Cours Lapin is the title of a song from the album. I had this picture in my head about a rabbit sitting totally still. The rabbit knows that the second it starts moving, it will be shot by the man sitting in a window behind with a gun pointed at it... The man won’t shoot the rabbit before it runs, simply because it would be too easy...

I think it is an cool relationship between the two - of course the man has the power to shoot, but the rabbit will ruin the mans game if it does not move at some point - i guess they can sit there for a very long time.

3) Where did you learn french ?

L: I lived in Paris for 8 years and today i live in Copenhagen and Paris and i speak french everyday because my boyfriend is french. But the first years i lived in Paris i did'nt care about learning french - i actually liked to listen to the conversations around me without understanding the meaning. It was funny to make my own stories based on peoples intonation, and bodylanguage (and most french people are really animated when they talk, they make funny faced and lift their shoulders up to the head every now and then, i like that...) It was a bit like wathing a chinese film without subtitles...

I would just speak english to people and they would answer either in french or english or a mix, but one day i could'nt resist anymore and i switched into french - so i learned (and still keep on learning) french from all kind of people in Paris.

4) How did you get in touch with french pop ?

P: I was introduced to France as a child, spending the summers in Perpignan with my family and falling in love with your beautiful ladies and food… Later on I started digging for breakbeats as a DJ / hiphop producer and fell in love once again, but this time with the cinematic, glamourous and melancholic sound of french soundtracks and Aznavour and Gainsbourg etc ..

J: Learned about french music through movies : Jules & Jim, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, Betty Blue etc…

A: There are countless sources of inspiration in french movies and music. When it comes to music I would also have to mention Serge Gainsbourg and unavoidably 'Histoire de Melody Nelson'. The whole texture of this sound: the vocals, musical arrangement and production is something very unique and obviously as Peder mentioned this has a great deal to do with the ingenious arrangements of Jean-Claude Vannier.

And even though he's not really French I would also have to mention Jacques Brel. I love his overdramatic way of singing/ acting out the songs such as 'Ne Me Quitte Pas' and 'Dans Le Port d'Amsterdam'.

5) Do you have any favourites artists or records ?

P: Well you can't forget Gainsbourg and his arranger Jean-Claude Vannier… Also Jaques Brel and Aznavour, recently I really dig the new Charlotte Gainsbourg album produced by Beck.

J: My french favourite artist of all time must be Serge Gainsbourg and especially the concept album « Histoire de Melody Nelson ».

6) How do you put yourself on the Danish musical map ?

P: I guess I would call us kind of outsiders as we have a certain sound that doesn't exactly attract the masses … Plus the lyrics are in french. But we're hoping to get a hold of everyone that digs what we're doing, all around the globe.

J: Besides from playing at the fantastic Roskilde Festival last year we haven't toured in Denmark - the lyrics are in french and the danish national radio didn't give much airplay for this album. It can all change and I think the music appeals to a lot of people. At the moment we're not part of a certain scene or trend in Denmark.

A: To me Cours Lapin's role on the Danish music scene is not so relevant. I don't know if there even is a Danish musical map these days. And I mean this in the most positive way. In my opinion bands (the interesting ones, anyway) are doing their own thing without paying very much attention to in which box it belongs or how to label it. Anyway, this is what Cours Lapin does.