Le SuperHomard

The French ensemble Le SuperHomard weaves together the polished easy-listening textures of the 1950s, the refined continental pop of the following decade, and the 1990s groups such as the Cardigans and Stereolab that themselves drew heavily from those earlier eras. Their 2016 debut EP MapleKey radiated a gentle nostalgic warmth that secured a contract with the storied indie-pop imprint Elefant, which issued the full-length Meadow Lane Park in 2019. Although Christophe Vaillant has carried the project forward as a solo endeavor under the same name, a partnership with the full-voiced indie-pop vocalist Maxwell Farrington began in 2021 and yielded further releases, among them the somewhat richer Please, Wait… of 2024, captured alongside classical musicians.

Multi-instrumentalist and producer Vaillant, whose pop sensibility steers the group, performed in the early-2000s power-pop outfit the Strawberry Smell and later joined Pony Taylor. He launched Le SuperHomard in 2015 initially as a one-man undertaking before enlisting his drumming brother Olivier and singer Pandora Burgess to complete the MapleKey EP, which appeared in 2016 on labels in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Employing guitars alongside drum machines, vintage synthesizers, and undulating bass lines, Vaillant shaped a sound informed by classic songwriters such as Burt Bacharach, the production craft of Brian Wilson, and the postmodern sensibility of acts like Broadcast and the High Llamas. From 2016 onward he assembled a live ensemble and began performing.

After inking a deal with the Spanish label Elefant, Vaillant assembled a full-length album with assistance from vocalist Julie Big, his brother Oliver, multi-instrumentalist Benoit Pithon, and guitarist Rémi Saboul. Working after hours at the record shop that employed him, Vaillant and co-producer Pithon fashioned arrangements that were more expansive and densely layered than those on MapleKey while remaining true to the same stylistic markers. The SpringTime EP preceded the first album proper, Meadow Lane Park, which surfaced in early 2019 following its November 2018 predecessor.

Vaillant encountered Australian expat Maxwell Farrington at the 2019 MaMA Festival in Paris, where he was struck by Farrington’s a cappella rendition of a Burt Bacharach number during sound check. The pair quickly discovered common ground in their admiration for artists including Sean O’Hagan, Scott Walker, and Lee Hazlewood. Farrington subsequently supplied lyrics for Vaillant, who in turn arranged a piece for Farrington; the exchange of demos resulted in a joint album. Credited to Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard, Once was released by Talitres in April 2021. The alliance persisted with the EP I Had It All the following year, and Talitres issued their second long-player, Please, Wait…, in February 2024. The set was recorded at the French venue L’Autre Canal in the company of opera and conservatory musicians.