We’ve long been due for a bluegrass revival in the indie music scene, and none come as sublime as the stylings of self-described Cossard & Flemmard a.k.a. Manuel and Fabrice. This eclectic French duo bring layers of influences into a mellow and delightful number that thematically explores a far-off land, crafted around the literature of Paul Aster, The Music of Chance. This interview is a similarly whimsical exploration with one of four features on this track and Mr. Cossard, Fabrice himself!
You two have been creating music as a duo for a long time now. How did you get together?
Fabrice: Manuel Bleton is three years younger than I. We met years ago through mutual friends and believe it or not, had recorded ONE song together. In the interim, we met socially. Manuel was seeing a future in computer science and music, I worked in the animation sector using pen and ink making films in 16 or 35 mm, like in the olden golden days of Tex Avery or The U.P.A. So this gives you an idea of how old I am. Manuel’s background, as well as music is fine art and he is the soul behind the wonderful three videos Cossard&Flemmard have done in order to give a visual extension to our musical work, which in essence is music scores, Film soundtracks. Manuel is a master at this and was, pre-covid, about to sign for a big contract writing the “livret” and the sound accompaniment for a Musical! Meanwhile, I just played guitar in a handful of bands and I can’t sing well but I could try a serenade if push comes to shove.
We want to remain very mysterious here. One thing you need to know though, in this project I’m 100% lyrics and Manuel Bleton is the wizard who makes ALL the music, although we’ve had a couple of female backing singers, an hirsute harmonica player called Jean-pierre and Bonifacio the banjo player from Bastia. The Conductor is Manuel Bleton and I’m happy with that.
This bluegrass musical style is few and far between in the indie scene. What drew you to it?
In a nutshell, I love folk and bluegrass, always have done but I have a thing for garage rock and sixties outfits, pure Mod stuff and The Clash. Also I dig Saint Saens, rachmaninoff and Manuel de Falla but normaly I wouldn’t tell anyone about the last three. Manuel Bleton is extremely eclectic in his tastes, he recently told me he was a massive Neil Young fan, “Harvest” being his album of choice. When we started to work together on this with Manuel, I was trying to introduce him to Gram Parsons and Emmilou Harris. We also like Hank Williams that goes without saying and I have a thing for Joe Ely who I was fortunate enough to see live! in London back in the day. Bonnie Rait also springs to mind because she’s so brilliant!
What is the production on this kind of music like? I can’t tell how much is synthwork or even what the dominant instrument is.
I would like to remain secretive about our unique methods of work. Basically, it’s a third red wine of the finest quality, a tiny bit of hashish for relaxation after our work is done. Foodwise I am a strict vegetarian, i’d like to say Vegan but the last time I cut the lawn I accidentally ate two mosquitoes and a tiny fly so…Manuel eats wild boars, wild mushrooms, trouts and caviar for breakfast. I tried to tell him to stop that nonsense but he’s having none of it. Those ingredients we ingest influence our music greatly, evil machines have been used in the production of Cossard& Flemmard’s music but we are 98% organic in our approach.
What inspired the collaboration, and having artists from across the pond join in for this EP? Are Nicky and Jessica both long time friends of the band?
Manuel needed backing vocals for one or two songs initially and he’s so internet savvy, he found this website called FIVERR with a view to recruit somebody he liked and consequently considered five possible female singers. Jessica Allossery really stood out. We both liked her and liked her music of course. Jessica is Canadian and was too pleased to help us out. Manuel explained his intentions of adding vocals to our first ever song. She did a brilliant job and later he mixed her performance into our existing track and that’s what you hear in this piece. It would’ve been a treat to have her in our studio with us and we might well work with her again in the future!
On “Lost at sea”, the backing vocalist is none other than singer Nicola Jane; a long time friend of mine, married to drummer boy Phil Goodland, a musician of some repute who suggested I contact Nicky for some possible contribution to our project. They’re both based in the South East Of England where she performs with a vocal group. A trio. I absolutely love their music. Totally different from what we do. I wish them the best!
Sam is a character from the book you drew inspiration from. What about The Music of Chance was so enchanting to you guys? Why co-opt the character at all?
The Paul Auster book is only a minor influence in this but it was crucial to our work. Like a lead. A leader even. “The music of chance” (La musique du hasard) had been a big success in France back in the day. It turned out our mutual friends here all knew Auster’s books pretty well so the connections were made and everyone who gave us feedback found the inspirationnal source interesting. I personally hadn’t read anything by the authour but had peruse through interviews or features in various French mags. Flemmard turned me on to him and I found the book so gripping I just read it avidly, really appreciating how well the story is constructed and the characters so real and tragic at the same time. That being said, I loved the book so much but destested the end so I had to rewrite the last chapter in my head and so it eventually turns out ok for both Jim Nashe and Jack Pozzi. I changed the end in my mind and forced myself to imagine a better fate to three of the characters. Sweet! … and before you ask…Nope, I haven’t seen the 1993 cinematographic adaptation of The Music of Chance…yet
No more boring hours of fishing (for Sam) stood as a singleton and Manu and his team worked on the visuals, they just wrapped up the video for it and it’s now available on most social networks channels. Sam, our fictitious hero, hits on his travels the town of Memphis and bumps into an old friend of his. One thing leading to another, they go from bar to bar and the friend, in awe of Sam’s musical talents, quickly arranges an impromptu visit to a famous recording studio in the city. The guy knows a very influential producer who can make things happen; some maverick figure who can influence people and events. Someone who could make a significant difference in one’s life then…The next thing that happens shows Sam with guitar in hand, singing two of his originals. The music mogul listens to what is supposedly just a rehearsal but discreetly signals the engineer in the control room to press the play/record button and I would invite anyone interested in listening to “No More Long Boring Hours of Fishing” to wait patiently until the E.P. comes out in September. I personally like the driving beat in this one and again, Jean-pierre’s harmonica playing is great! There is that same subtlety in the arrangements and a lot of energy all through the song.
That’s so eloquently put! Well, what’s on the horizon for the band?
So far we’ve had an excellent response with the people in the industry and our small audience. However, we’ve had a rough two years as you can imagine. Saying that, it’s nothing compared to the folks who lost their loved ones. The obvious climate of fear that surrounded covid, all the nastiness inflicted by our various leaders or governments who in my view made things worse, sorry to say, by putting in place drastic measures that kept the general paranoia going and didn’t really empower us or give us the strength to mentally handle the crisis that ensued.
Live shows would be awesome for Cossard&Flemmard but in the meantime, we’ll carry on collaborating with each other. We’ve been approached by a DJ guy who’d like to remix already a couple of our tracks but we feel as it is early days, although we both like the idea of different interpretations of our music. I’d also like to mention the future idea of a musical. I know the public either loves them or loathes them but I’d like to explore that route and if Cossard can be bothered and Flemmard stops yawning for most part of the mornings, we might wake up to a whole different realm and start singing life instead of just…living it!
Your songs have both a very unique yet comfortably familiar sound to them. What kind of genres would you look to explore further?
I would love to return to a more guitar-based format. I am a big fan of Fuzz, screamin’ guitars and thumping bass sound. Flemmard is a lot more subtle and a proper musician-arranger. I know he mentioned Neil Young and maybe we’ll work that way, the sorta grungey politically aware folky Neil Young way. Or “walk into the future”, break down barriers and become as inventive as one should. We all need to save the world, let’s do it with style and innovation.
These collaborations of course came out fantastic. Are there other artists that you might look to collaborate with, or just appreciate on the scene right now?
No collabs as yet. Of course we have people in mind, people we’d want to include in future projects but it’s early days for Cossard&Flemmard and it’s all been very exhausting so we need to chill…Let’s have more of that lovely blend of old and young happy flavour that brought us “The Dawn of our Life”, “Lost at Sea”, “The ballad of Love” or “Wandering Soul”.