Paris (AFP)
James Righton or the art of reinvention: the ex-keyboard of the hopping Horns starts solo with an elegant hand-sewn pop, reviving the thread of the creators David Bowie or Bryan Ferry in the 1970s.
It is in his white suit, his new visual signature, that the Englishman will present for the first time on stage, Saturday at the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris, at the Inrocks festival, "The performer", album to be released on March 20 ( Deewee / Pias).
His immaculate outfit "gives power, that of transforming on stage, as did my favorite artists, David Bowie or Bryan Ferry with Roxy Music, who did not perform in jeans and t-shirts", he explains for AFP.
"We have several versions of ourselves, the one on Instagram, the one projected in the world, like me on stage. I'm different at home, with my two daughters, in the kitchen or at a Tottenham football match. interesting this contrast of characters who fight in me ", continues the husband of the actress Keira Knightley (" Pirates of the Caribbean ").
When asked his top 5 "performers", in addition to Ferry and Bowie, he quotes Elvis Presley but also the actors Steve Martin and Peter Sellers. A benchmark era? "I aesthetically love the 1970s, he insists. The new Hollywood, the books, the clothes, the songwriting, it's an incredible period. If I had a chance to go back in time, I would choose this period. "
- "Good about myself" -
"His bias of the 1970s could seem suspicious, but I was pleasantly surprised to listen, it is quite new paradoxically", comments for AFP Carole Boinet, deputy editor in chief of Inrocks. "I have a certain nostalgia for the Klaxons, but since he has never ceased to intrigue me, he is still in research", continues the co-programmer of the festival.
At 36, the man is no longer hiding. "I'm confident, good about myself, it took me a long time, he analyzes. The Horns, it was my group since school, but I did not write the lyrics. With Shock Machine ( which was his second group) I started writing, and now it's more natural. "
"It was worth the wait, he assumes a rather intimidating heritage from English pop, Bowie, Ferry, yes, and I add Elton John, dissect for AFP Olivier Nuc, music journalist at Le Figaro. It could be d 'a crazy claim, but it lives up to it, with this arranged, melodic pop ".
James Righton describes a "very personal" album - "Edie" is for one of his daughters - but also "political". "See the monster" echoes the "disgusting rise in populism that accompanied Brexit in the UK."
- "My Belgian fathers" -
"Heavy heart" laments a "homophobic, extremely right, racist" fringe of England. "I am angry, I am disconnected from the island where I grew up, I have never felt so foreign in my own country. Before, this island was like a shelter for creative people, extraordinary people ... "
Among the islets of comfort where he finds refuge - in addition to his family and his British friends - there is the Belgian studio Deewee, in Ghent, of the brothers Dewaele, David and Stephen, better known by their stage names Soulwax or 2 Many Dj's.
"I have known them since I was 16, I had been to see them as a fan in Glasgow behind the scenes, then I met them again with Horns, they made a remix of one of our titles, + Gravity's Rainbow + , he said. Then I took wine courses with them, it was supposed to last two weeks, it took a year (laughs). Here, for the album, these are my label bosses . They are my Belgian fathers, it could be worse (laughs) ".
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