Etienne Daho “really liked the confinement, this freeze frame”

• Etienne Daho is the sponsor of Disquaires Days 2020.
• This year, the Disquaires Days are held on June 20, August 29, September 26 and October 24. It is about celebrating independent record stores.
• "I think there are a lot of young people who rediscover vinyl by reaction to their elders who were intoxicated to see hard disks filled with mp3s that they never listened to", advance Etienne Daho to explain the craze always more vivid for this support.

The Record Stores Days made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Etienne Daho also quickly agreed to be the sponsor of the 2020 edition of this event celebrating independent record stores (see box). "I am a lover of vinyl, it is thanks to this support that I discovered music," says the singer, who agreed to reveal his card of the tender music lover at 20 Minutes .

How would you rate your relationship to vinyl? Fetishist?

Not a fetishist! For me, it remains a magic object. As long as I don't have a vinyl album, it's not a real record (smile). At a time when record companies considered it a finished medium, my albums were no longer published in this format and I experienced great frustration. I have caught up since, since they are now all available in vinyl. I do not collect. I don't buy vinyl to buy vinyl. It is nevertheless a precious object, quite rare, which brings back to the artisanal side of music that we have forgotten a little. When I love an artist, I want to buy everything. I need to understand its path. I am therefore not a fetishist but a complementist, which is also valid for books.

They say that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Should we judge a record by its cover?

In general, my meetings are made through the cover. This is my first contact with what's inside. I have rarely been disappointed. I even often fell in love with records thanks to their covers.

When you hear the word "vinyl", which ones come to mind spontaneously?

Oh my, there are so many! I would say the Velvet Underground and Nico album, because it's incredible to have made a cover with a fruit as banal as a banana. Andy Warhol has designed other visuals like that of Stinky Fingers for the Stones, with the fly. When a cover becomes a work of art, it's fantastic.

Velvet Underground & Nico, 1967 #andywarhol #warhol pic.twitter.com/LzQDpKqDrY

You yourself give a lot of importance to the visuals of your albums…

Yes, that really matters to me. Most of the time, it allows me to meet artists or photographers that I like. Like Pierre and Gilles who designed [for La notte, la notte in 1984] this image of me with the marinière and the parrot, which remained a strong image beyond the record, for me, for them. I attach a lot of importance to the envelope, that explains what is inside. It is an extension of the disc. It is not fragmented.

Artist: Etienne Daho
Album: La Notte, La Notte ...
Artist cover: Pierre Et Gilles pic.twitter.com/g2JVJOArI6

How do you explain the growing enthusiasm for vinyl in recent years?

Music is something quite sentimental, emotional. We need to have something to do with the object, like a book. I think there are a lot of young people who are rediscovering vinyl as a reaction to their elders who were intoxicated to see hard drives full of mp3s that they never listened to. The greedy side, like that ... There is something that has flipped even though many people are listening to music streaming - which is fantastic too. The return to vinyl shows the attachment to the object, this is not trivial. It indicates a desire to own something when you appreciate it.

A vinyl has much more charm than a CD…

When the CDs arrived, it was pretty magical because, at the time, we couldn't find the integrals. I was a record store when I was a student. There were three or four discs per artist in the bins: the best-of, the current album and the album that had worked best. Never the whole discography. With the CD, we had the experience of a different sound, which was quite exciting, then the possibility of having access to an artist's catalog, including the rarities. This allowed us to rediscover things. There was a rather exhilarating period with the CD until the record companies took advantage of this windfall and ended up producing albums with rotten sound, without a booklet. These abuses have certainly disgusted consumers.

The Record Stores Days are an opportunity to celebrate independent record stores. What are your habits as a customer?

I have favorite stores but in general, as soon as I pass a record store, I can't help but enter. I am irresistibly attracted. I love it, I love looking for the possibility of having surprises. You have to choose the person who accompanies you, because often people tire quickly enough (laughs) and pull you by the sleeve saying "Okay, are we going? ! So you have to be alone or with a seriously ill person like yourself.

You are releasing this Friday "Surf", Etienne Daho, an album of covers of standards such as "Falling in Love" or "Moon River", only available at independent record stores. But you haven't designed it specifically for Record Stores Days. You started working on it in 2004. Why such a long gestation?

It was complicated because the record company had no interest in it. For me, it's not a side-project , but a real project, a real record, with songs that tell me and that I love so much that I feel like I wrote them. I started it in 2004 and then it got complicated, so I gave up. To get there, really, you have to go! (laughs) I vaguely took over this project in 2006… and then when I was offered to be the sponsor of Disquaire Days, I said to myself that it would be great to make this record as it should have existed in at the time, with the original photo for the cover. We had to redo it 90% because I no longer knew where the studio sessions we had done were. We had worked on about 45 titles, of which about twenty were successful. It is such a joy that this disc finally exists. I had it in my hands two days ago and it was a moment of emotion. It has never happened to me to drop a record. I regretted not having gone to the end. While it exists, that I can share it with others, it brings me a lot.

Between two albums, you let three, four, even six years go by ... Is it a rhythm that suits you?

Creation is a very special little beast. Sometimes it comes very quickly, sometimes it takes a little longer to set up. I also produce the records of other artists, I make them as if it were for me. Jane Birkin's album that we finished yesterday [Wednesday June 10, interview was done June 11] evening, it took me a year. I did it with the same love as if it were one of mine. In any case, between two discs, I never stop working or making music.

NEW JANE BIRKIN ALBUM
Etienne and Jean-Louis Piérot finished recording the new Jane Birkin album “Oh! Sorry you were sleeping ... ”to be published in November. Texts by Jane Birkin and music and production Etienne and Jean-Louis Piérot. Photo: Pierre René-Worms pic.twitter.com/EUyepNPEtE

What can we expect with this new Jane Birkin album?

This record is a marvel. We started with a play she wrote, Oh! sorry, you were sleeping ... I offered to put it to music. It has taken twenty years to be done. There was an extravagant time of maturation. But it was a good time to stick to it now. There are texts from this piece, Jane has written others on recent events concerning her personal life ... I have made my music with Jean-Louis Piérot. It will really be a great record. I believe it is scheduled for November.

This Saturday, it will be the Fête de la musique, which will take place in special conditions during this period of deconfinement…

Everything is special at the moment. We are in a kind of in-between zone. But it's interesting. I really liked the confinement, this freeze frame. It was very beneficial for me, it was a way to reconnect with the time that I can allow myself.

Was this an inspiration?

No, but I found ten new ones on a hard drive, which I would never have found without this downtime. Maybe they will come out one day. The confinement was a time to tidy up, to reflect, to put myself back and to be fair in relation to what I want to do. Whereas, when you are on a train going at 500 an hour, it is often difficult to stop to think and you investigate the projects.

Culture

The hell of the record collector is the others

Economy

Our readers explain why they care about vinyl

The festival of independent record stores

This year, due to the specific context linked to Covid-19, the organizers of the Disquaire Day have chosen to decline the event over four days: June 20, August 29, September 26 and October 24. Several exclusive vinyls, specially edited for the occasion, will be available only at independent record stores. In addition to Etienne Daho's Surf  album , disc lovers will be able to focus on more than 120 references, including albums by NTM, Malik Djoudi or the Emily Loizeau project in tribute to Lou Reed. More information on the site www.disquaireday.fr

• Music
• Vinyl
• Etienne Daho
• Interview
• Culture