(Photo: Anne Marzeliere)
“Among our proudest representatives of “Made In France” pop with a capital P, Popincourt has occupied a special place since we discovered A New Dimension To Modern Love, his first album released in 2016. (…) From the Beatles to Burt Bacharach via Elvis Costello or even Stereolab, Popincourt maintains a certain idea of romantic and suave pop, the one that goes from the 60s to today.” Benzine Magazine
“After several years of collaborations, Paris based Popincourt has decided to make his own singular musical mark … A Pop Rock cocktail, fresh and original, influenced by Paul Weller, Ray Davies, Costello and Joe Jackson. Despite these inspirations, Popincourt sounds modern and not retro. The songs are beautifully arranged and the pro musicians play brilliantly.” Auguste Marshal
About “A Deep Sense Of Happiness” (2020):
“Recording an album that fits in nicely amongst releases by the Lotus Eaters, The Free Design, or Roger Nichols and the Small Circle of Friends is not within the reach of everyone. But with its 5 star chord progressions, finely woven guitar arpeggios and sweeping arrangements, Olivier Popincourt delivers a beautiful new album, accompanied by an expert team, on a label committed to good taste. The first video for “The Grass of Winter Morning” is set in a lovely but abandoned house. Popincourt is the proof that, despite growing standardisation and pre-fab Auto-Tune music, it’s possible to build something of real quality.” Bertrand Burgalat
About the “4 Colours 4 Seasons” (2019):
“The ideal soundtrack for a picnic alongside of the Thames, the pure pop of Popincourt, an Illegitimate child of Paul Weller and Roddy Frame, makes it seem like you are traveling. His new EP looks like a postcard written during a blue winter. In the spring, we wander in the alleys of Hyde Park, serenaded by the clean guitars of “Green Spring”. Then begins the red summer, conducive to romances that are come and go on a Brazilian beach. The final scene is a landscape of William Turner lit up by the fantasy colors of autumn. Crossing the Channel to the sound of this ‘4 colours 4 seasons’, is the guarantee of a “voyage that will last a whole year”, to paraphrase another lover of the London sound.” Pierre Mikaïloff
Introducing Popincourt By Christophe Loubes – cultural journalist @ Sud Ouest – March 2016
Some try all their lives to record the new “Village Green” (The Kinks) or the new “Never mind the bollocks”‘ (The Sex Pistols). Popincourt would prefer a follow up to “Café bleu” (The Style Council). The project might seem less ambitious but it is certainly more original, probably more realistic and no less genuine for someone who has always been influenced by Paul Weller. A man not only attached to the heritage of Small Faces, The Herd, and The Jam, but one who also lives in the 21st century – without dismissing the 80s, or at least what remains worth listening in 2016, such as The Style Council therefore, Elvis Costello, XTC or Aztec Camera (the aerial guitars of ‘The Risk of losing you’ or ‘I found out’); the 90s and the touch of British jazz that the trumpets bring to ‘A new dimension to modern love’, acid jazz maybe, he would rather call it ‘Blue eyed soul’; the 2000s and a Burgalat production, full of vintage keyboards (wurlitzer, philicorda…) and sophisticated cords like on ‘The First flower of spring’.
Popincourt was created over several years. From the first bands in Rouen, Nantes, Bordeaux and Paris, before a formative exile to London, where he founded ‘les Hommes Responsables’ with Phil King, ex bass player of Lush and Jesus & Mary Chain, followed a return to France where he will collaborate with Perio and play the organ in concert with French Boutik. During all these years, the man himself had time to appreciate what makes a difference: an entire devotion to the verse/chorus/transition above and beyond technical virtuosity; the overall importance of melodies; the groove in the service of the songs, not the other way round. The repertoire is built over a decade. An unreleased EP to taste the water in 2013, before moving to the next level. A small team is formed with people met at concerts. Hervé Bouétard, the drummer of Bertrand Burgalat, is behind the drums . Ken Stringfellow on the bass following his time with the Posies, Big Star and R.E.M. Gabriela Giacoman, the singer of French Boutik, is doing the backing vocals. Sébastien Souchois, the composer of the soundtracks for ‘Candidat’ and ‘Mes amis, mes amours’, arranged the brass and supervises the production. Finally it is at the studios of Nicolas Dufournet, ex-business partner of Michel Gondry and Etienne Charry at the heart of Oui Oui, that the Popincourt’s album is recorded.
To sing about love stories is not always easy, but here is someone who has lived more than 25 years without succumbing to the model that so often makes French rock ridiculous. In fact he sings in English claiming “It is easier and more natural in terms of what I listen to”. A French album for the British maybe, but certainly not a revival album!