Bass CDs
Jeremie Coke and Electro Deluxe Release Circle
“Really? How did you hear that?”, exclaims Jeremie Coke excitedly, when I share the news that the evening’s show for which he just completed sound check, has sold out.
The bassist for Paris’ favorite funky sons, Electro Deluxe, is honestly thrilled, yet humble in his reaction. Electro Deluxe has become familiar with playing to big crowds, with fans turning up to performances in droves, including two recent sold out nights at Le Trianon in Paris for the release of the album, Circle. The group’s latest offering is a funky mix of R&B, pop, and dance grooves. “We always compose and play the music we love!”
Photo, Hugues Lawson
Jeremie’s playing is front and center on the album, which offers a rich, full sound that is an evolution from Electro Deluxe’s last album, Home. “I think it’s more saturated sound. We don’t have guitar, but we have Clavinet. We used Clavinet as a guitar with a saturated sound. That’s a significant change.” The updated sound is evident on the first track, “All Alone”, where Jeremie doubles keyboardist Gael Cadoux on the verse signature:
The album then switches to the dance inspired octave riff of “Keep My Baby Dancing”, a definite bass highlight of the record. “[The songwriter is] me. I took the bass, I was playing like this and I was like, ‘Whoa! This is good – I can make a song with this!’. We found it in a few minutes. I came to [vocalist] James [Copley]’s house and we found the voice gimmick in a few minutes and the song was on!”
Along with vocal tunes, Electro Deluxe also recorded dense, funky instrumentals, including “Paramount”, a song brought to the group by saxophonist Thomas Faure. “Often, when [the bass] is doubled with the Clavinet, like on ‘Paramount’, that’s one of Thomas’”, explains Jeremie. “We rehearsed ‘Paramount’ once, a long time ago before the studio and never touched it again. There’s a lot of different parts in this piece and we had to work on the length of each and take off where there was too much.”
The 14 tracks on the album, both vocal and instrumental, were all covered by the Fender sound: “For recording, I used P bass, an old one – ’68 P bass! There are holes in the body everywhere, it’s pretty dramatic! But it works, if you don’t play too fast! Flatwounds for strings. I used my Jazz bass, also. That’s the two basses I used. On stage, I only use my Jazz Bass.”
Photo, Stella K
The stage experience is currently limited to fans in Europe, but when discussing expanding their travels, Jeremie offers, “I’m crossing my fingers!” Until then, listeners can enjoy Circle. The album had the physical format release in October for France and in November for Germany, with distribution in Japan slated for December. The album is also available worldwide in digital format via iTunes