French jazz fusion quintet Monsieur MÂLÂ, comprising Swaéli Mbappé on bass, Yoann Danier on drums, Nicholas Vella on keys, Balthazar Naturel on saxophone and Robin Antunes on violin and mandolin, have been making waves since dropping their debut track ‘Misemo’ back in 2020. Hailing from Paris, they’ve played a key role in the city’s underground music scene. The band are gearing up their self-titled debut album in March. Late last year, the band shared the utterly stunning single ‘Fly Fly‘, and they recently unveiled the latest album teaser, ‘All My Life’, featuring the vocals of Anna Kovak.
Both tracks superbly showcase their diverse musical expressions, and we’re simply brimming with anticipation to fully immerse ourselves in their album. Needless to say, we’re thrilled to have them curate a guest playlist, offering a glimpse into their eclectic musical influences. Read their track-by-track walkthrough and dive into the music below.
Freeze Tag – Yoann: I choose this one because… I just love it, haha no precise reasons but it fitted well with the selection.
Poetry – Yoann: I love the way Erykah Badu sings on the second part of this tune, it reminds me the way Anna approached ‘All My Life’ the first time we started working on it together.
No Role Modelz – Yoann: There’s a similar vibe here as in the part on ‘All My Life” where Anna starts rapping.
Kill Rock’n Roll – Robin: I thought about this song right away when we started composing it with the band. SOAD has always been an important step in my musical development; when I was a teenager, just before getting more interested in jazz, finding a way to use these influences in Monsieur M L is really exciting to me!
HUMBLE – Yoann: Same as ‘No Role Modelz’, there’s a similar vibe in the way Kendrick raps. He’s obviously a strong influence for all of us!
Funny Thing – Yoann: I love the uptempo bounce on this track that is really close to the one we play on the intro and the outro of ‘All My Life’
Chaise Longue – Robin: I love the vibe here; it gives me the will to get crazy. It’s more or less the same feeling I have when I play the heavy mandolin parts of the main theme on ‘All My Life’!
Palace/Curse – Yoann: I love the part starting at 2:40 for its electric and saturated sounds; that’s kind of what we tried to get close to in our track.
Let it Happen – Robin: Just because… Louis Cole.
Drown – Robin: I love the density that we can feel in this tune. It’s something we’ve been attempting with ‘All My Life’, in a darker mood but with a constant tension.
