« Seul au monde » : a new power ballad from Lucill
Singer-songwriter Lucill offers "Seul au monde", a new track recorded in Montreal and mixed at Mant Sounds in Los Angeles by producer Rob Schnapf. The single is available today on all download and streaming platforms.
Following the albums Bunny (2020) and Snake Eyes (2022), a captivating guitar melody devoid of artifice greets us on "Seul au monde". Then Lucill's voice joins her in the heart of a nighttime mystery, a nocturnal poetic flight that can stick to all our stories.
"But what do you want? I ask you. I felt so alone in the world," Lucill sings, at first without flaflas, her voice in the foreground. It is only after a minute and a half of "Seul au monde" that the pace is accelerated. The drums follow the rest and propel the story to a new rhythm, a different chapter. The song ends a little after the three minutes in a clear, but vaporous way. Like turning off the light in the room after the last line, "I'll be just a shadow that's flailing and fretting. The night will take it away."
Written about a year ago, the text of "Seul au monde" has since been placed in time and space to find its meaning. For singer-songwriter Raphaël Bussières, aka Lucill, it is a premonitory song. "When the words came out last year, I was wondering if it was about my family or my friends. It was vague, but I knew that I wanted to put time on this song," he says. Co-produced with his faithful accomplice Francis Mineau, the song simmered, layered and matured before Mineau suggested to Lucill that they have the song mixed by someone they don't know. The structure and textures of Seul au monde settled in. Then Raphael aimed for the highest of his own conception of talent: he wrote to producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Kurt Vile, Cat Power).
Last September, Lucill and Rob met in Los Angeles for the mix of Seul au monde, and when they returned, everything made sense. "My girlfriend left me, my best friend passed away, everything changed, but I still had just fulfilled a childhood dream," recalls Raphael. It's as if, unconsciously, I had seen it all coming."
Schnapf's production and backing work frames music by Matthew Fiorentino (brass arrangements) and Jay Essiambre (guitar textures and harmonies).
LUCILL WILL BE PLAYING LIVE IN MONTREAL ON MARCH 26 AT L'ESCO.
