Sexuality

Sébastien Tellier's MySpace

Sébastien Tellier's Official Website

On the surface, Sexuality, Sébastien Tellier's fourth album, comes across like your typical collection of sexy French tunes, employing the expected woozy crooning and army of synthesizers, but Tellier’s been perfecting this particular musical game for the last eight years under some undeniably expert tutelage (members of both Air and Daft Punk have served as Tellier’s production allies) and upon deeper listening it’s clear he’s managed to craft a record nearly the equal of the electronic-pop heroes guiding him.

Tellier got his start thanks to Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel of Air, who upon hearing the timid and, for the lack of a better word, “airy” sensibilities of his loose compositions, felt compelled to release his debut, I'Incroyable Vérité, in 2001 on their Record Makers imprint. Tellier has ever so slightly amped up the volume, passion, and intensity of his musical output on successive releases, and gained appropriate notice from Daft Punk's Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, who jumped aboard to helm his latest disc. Sexuality finds Tellier’s sounding richer than ever, stepping lightly between cheesiness and sincerity, never letting the listener clearly know whether his retro-electronic music is meant to enjoyed ironically.

Sexuality’s seductive melodies and undeniable sense of fun make for enjoyable listening on more than half of its tracks. “Kilometer,” which employs a background female moan and vocal modulation on Tellier's voice in the chorus, makes for a distinctive early highlight. “Divine” similarly impresses, layering dozens of “ba-ba”s and “doo-doo”s underneath a playful hard-to-shake Casio riff. Even the instrumental number “Sexual Sportswear” manages to imprint Tellier’s own stamp on the world of spooky, ethereal dance beats. Sexuality does just about everything right, except for the  inclusion of a few dull clunkers like “Elle” and “L'Amour Et La Violence,” which simply plod along with tired sequencers and plastic drums, making the album as a whole unfortunately uneven. Luckily, the songs that do successfully follow the Air and Daft Punk model, offer both energy and subtlety, making Sexuality a decidedly worthwhile listen in the end.