Today, March 4th, French composer, songwriter and producer Ulrich Forman shares the powerful track ‘At Last’, the second single taken from his upcoming album ‘Chapter IV’, due for release on May 27th. Stream ‘At Last’ here. Watch the video here.
In ‘At Last’ Ulrich continues exploring the emotions of “falling in love without warning”, where his recently released single‘Breathin’ served as prologue to Ulrich’s tale about the jolting concoction of emotions, racing heart beats, nervousness, fumbles and happiness of the first kiss, ‘At Last’ reflects on the aftermath of love. Ulrich’s introspective and vulnerable lyrics deal with what happens when the limit of love is reached and the relationship is consumed. The aftermath is about the desperate desire for everything to go back to the way it was, for the broken pieces of the relationship to come back together, or it can be about wanting to forget all the painful memories, finding a way to accept the ending of the relationship and to finally find closure.
Intimate, crafted with precision and delicacy, Ulrich’s music is wrapped around lyrics tinged with poetry. His arrangements, both sober and rich, sewn thread by thread with remarkable craftsmanship, combine emotive melodies, intricate guitars and warm acoustics with touches of electronic influences to create delicate yet expansive indie folk songs. Like the forthcoming album, ‘At Last’ shows Ulrich’s most experimental sound, through the use of soft auto-tuned vocal harmonies combined with drum machines samples that punctuate the emotive journey Ulrich takes the listeners on, perfectly depicted by the nighttime visuals for the single directed by Alexandre Tissot in which the artist wanders through the streets of Paris.
“I started writing ‘Chapter IV’ about two years ago. I already had a few tracks and ideas laid down when I got into a really bad motorcycle accident,” explains Ulrich talking about the upcoming album. Finding himself unable to play guitar or piano, the artist had to come up with a new writing process; “for the first time, I started by writing lyrics without any melodies in mind, that led me to write introspective lyrics about very intimate subjects, which would later become the foundation of the album”.
Lyrics became the beating heart of ‘Chapter IV’, with Ulrich tailoring the music around them in order to create the perfect settings to express them. “I did not want those lyrics hidden behind heavy musical arrangements. I chose an almost bare and minimalistic aesthetic, so that they could breathe and convey the vulnerability I felt after the accident that I was so desperately trying to accept”.Using tools traditionally associated with electronic music or hip-hop, and replacing organic instruments with samples, drum machines, autotune, this new writing process forced Ulrich to learn a new way of composing music; “I could not hide behind routine,” he says; “in a way, that led me to a certain type of innocence and sincerity I had when I first started composing,” he enthuses.
His previous releases – including two EPs, ‘See My Love’ and ‘Chapter II’, followed by the debut album ‘Chapter III’ – have seen his signature sound evolving from rusty folk to bloomy and sheer compositions bathed in tenderness. On stage or in studio, he collaborates with Yann Tiersen, Fab Dupont (Paul Mc Cartney/Carly Rae Jepsen), Florent Livet (Phoenix/Bloc Party), Pavle Kovacevic (Sébastien Tellier), Chab (Feist/Daft Punk) and Graham Hawthorne (Brian Wilson/Paul Simon).
‘At Last’ provides another glimpse into Ulrich Forman’s emotive journey, through the pain and joy that comes with love, vulnerability and songwriting.
Ulrich Forman new single ‘At Last’ is out now. Stream ‘At Last’ here.Watch the video here. The upcoming album ‘Chapter IV’ is due for release May 27th.
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