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"Peter Doherty, Frédéric Lo - The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime
A charming collaborative project...The creative collaboration between lyricist and songwriter Peter Doherty and French composer and producer Frédéric Lo is inspired.
Well-defined with clarity throughout, Doherty describes the album project as a desire “to capture something of the spirit of Étretat in its quieter moments during lockdown.” It is where French novelist Maurice Leblanc lived, and the place where he wrote his Arsène Lupin novels.
The allocation of creative responsibility is that Lo composes the music, and Doherty writes the poetry, and it means that their artistic partnership can flourish. The idea of capturing true creativity often seems idealistic, if not unrealistic, but this record is a suitable contender in the category.
Recorded between Paris and Normandy, the album also signifies a return to basics, a result of daily writing sessions lasting two months. It was a place where the combination of a guitar, a typewriter, some wine and some laughter, all played a part. Rich in melody, based around principles of natural composition and improvisation, the songs are vibrant and fulfilling.
With darkly textured hints, the pulsating track ‘The Ballad Of..’ is a fascinating insight into a curious character. With vague echoes of Scott Walker as much as Jacques Brel, it connects classical music elements with folk, and creates a fine, ‘60s style song, in the process.
The more playful, upbeat ‘You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever’ reconnects Doherty with his love of The Smiths and Suede. But even if it represents a yearning for things he cares about, it also plays with the idea of being strong enough to resist them.
The topicality in ‘Far From The Madding Crowd’ and ‘Yes I Wear A Mask’ is fascinating, it acts as a reminder of the dark times many still live in, but the songs can also be seen in wider, more universal context.
‘Monster’ offers drama of a more internal nature. For a short track, it has a lot of intricacy. Compact and concise, it may tackle the obsessive, dark nature of addiction, but it also has a sense of light and hope. Taking some inspiration from around Europe, its atmosphere is lucid, and it has a dreamy, immersive vibe.
The combination of having finely crafted compositions and a relatable, poetic voice is effective.
Is this Peter Doherty’s true artistic voice? This record makes you consider the question more than previously. There is no doubt that the style and execution are a valid, fascinating glimpse, and they represent, at least, one of his true voices.
8/10
Words: Susan Hansen"
Peter Doherty, Frédéric Lo - The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime
The creative collaboration between lyricist and songwriter Peter Doherty and French composer and producer Frédéric Lo is inspired. Well-defined with…
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Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo - The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime | SOUNDS & BOOKS
Ein mutiges, erfreuliches und verdammt gutes Album haben Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo mit "The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime" eingespielt
www.soundsandbooks.com
Google Translate:
Peter Doherty & Fr´édéric Lo have recorded a courageous, enjoyable and damn good album Two have found each other: the fallen angel and reformed rebel Peter Doherty on the one hand and the esthete, composer and arranger Frédéric Lo on the other. Or in other words: the gutter poet and the melody hunter with a penchant for the pompous. It all started a year and a half ago, in the middle of the lockdown. “I went to find Peter, a year and a half ago, with the intention of asking him to participate in my tribute album to Daniel Darc. The recording went perfectly. Peter's interpretation gave me chills. The version was beautiful,” explains Lo.
Doherty must have liked it too, as he asked to continue the collaboration. “So we met again in September. I proposed melodies. Peter would write lyrics to my music, improvise, erase. Then began two months of daily writing and composing. I loved the time spent in this house with Peter, just concentrating on making songs, sitting in the kitchen, with a guitar, a typewriter, oysters, cigars, wine, rum… Some laughter. A few tears too.”
Vocally, Peter Doherty is at his best. The result of this work can now be heard on “The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime”. Twelve tracks composed mostly on piano that are more pop than anything Doherty has recorded before. Sure, "You Can't Keep It From Me Forever" or "Rock & Roll Alchemy" could have been recorded with the Puta Madres. But songs like the title track (with strings!), "The Epidemiologist", "Abe Wassenstein" or "Far From The Madding Crowd" clearly show Lo's part in this collaboration.
These new circumstances suit the audibly recovered Doherty surprisingly well. Vocally at his best, precise in phrasing and expression, he can give his presentation other focal points. Sometimes melancholic, sometimes combative You won't find the big smasher. The album is more than a collection of mass-market compositions. And it's a grower. It unfolds its effect especially in one piece. The pieces share a mood that oscillates between introspection, anger, rebellion and acceptance. Sometimes it gets melancholic, then combative again. This is mirrored musically. In "The Ballad Of..." for example, the duo direct full drama. The song is one of the best that Doherty has ever sung. Anyone who has already written it off after the first photos from the lockdown were published is wrong. Doherty hasn't just kept his class, he's evolving. Try it out and has long since escaped his libertine self. Bold, enjoyable and damn good.
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"Review: Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo – The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime
8/10
Question: When did we stop worrying about Peter Doherty? Answer: 2014.
Since their permanent reformation eight years ago, we have been led to believe that The Libertines have arrived at the happy ending their soap opera demanded.
The narrative suggests that they’ve sailed on the Good Ship Albion to Margate, where they joyfully fill the days in their hotel with antics and capers, generally having a Jolly Old Time.
Or so we must presume, as we haven’t had a crotchet of new music in seven years. The tours are all well and good lads, but we did not have you down as a nostalgia act.
Yet it seems we’ve taken our eye off the bigger problems: Doherty’s disarming honesty was always one his redeeming features, and time has not weathered it as he reveals frankly (in the PR for this album) that he has been clean for just over two years.
Great news to be sure, and we wish him all the best in his continued quest, but that’s still relatively recent and merely serves to highlight the very nature of addiction: it’s an ever-present thing.
You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever, the best song on this new album, is Doherty distilled; one of the best things he’s put his name to (and there’s been many; his prolificity is another strength), it’s an incredibly catchy, upbeat indie pop song…about drugs.
‘Give me what I want, give me what I need’, he implores, confirming that the song was written during a period of self-described ‘white-knuckling’ and is about a subconscious yearning.
Sinister ballad The Monster (‘The monster adores me, stand and deliver, it felt so right’) tackles the same subject, Doherty refreshingly posturing that there’s reasons why he’s addicted, namely the pleasure it provides. It feels like a cliché to be discussing drugs so readily, but if Doherty does it then we must.
Fortunately, this splendid album doesn’t wallow on one subject, nor are the lyrics its most striking feature. In partnering with French composer and producer Frederic Lo, the erstwhile icon hasn’t sounded this inspired for years.
Lo complements Doherty with lavish, European production akin to Jacques Brel without smothering him in it, with the results being the logical conclusion to his finest ‘solo’ hour, 2004’s For Lovers.
Seemingly impressed, Doherty brings his A game as his softer tones on the title-track work well with the luscious strings and spaghetti-western solo. The gypsy, eastern-European guitars on The Glassblowers (an ode to Whitechapel) are a pleasant surprise, while the lesser-spotted influence of solo McCartney is apparent on Keeping Me On File, all country acoustics and warm melodies.
The Morricone-esque vibes and sweeping strings on The Epidemiologist ensure that it’s the best ever song about the determinants and patterns of disease conditions, and proves he hasn’t lost his knack for a turn of phrase (‘the best laid plans can oft go to f***ery’).
Doherty also covers the songwriting process on Rock & Roll Alchemy, which features his trademark off-key vocal when he reaches for a high note. Yes I Wear A Mask is ostensibly about the pandemic on one level, and confirms that doing so went against his libertarian instincts.
On Far From The Madding Crowd he bemoans the consequences of lockdown (‘where am I supposed to sing my song?’) accompanied by a mournful piano (although minus points for trying to rhyme ‘bar’ and ‘festival’, unsuccessfully). Lastly, Abe Wassenstein is a moving paean to a fallen comrade, but elsewhere there is much whimsy and positivity.
As ever with Peter Doherty there is darkness and light, as there is in life itself. This classy collection of songs finds him more relaxed and cogent than ever and is an excellent reminder of his God-given talent.
Until Carl, Gary and John can match his workload, The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime will do just fine."
www.live4ever.uk.com
8/10
Question: When did we stop worrying about Peter Doherty? Answer: 2014.
Since their permanent reformation eight years ago, we have been led to believe that The Libertines have arrived at the happy ending their soap opera demanded.
The narrative suggests that they’ve sailed on the Good Ship Albion to Margate, where they joyfully fill the days in their hotel with antics and capers, generally having a Jolly Old Time.
Or so we must presume, as we haven’t had a crotchet of new music in seven years. The tours are all well and good lads, but we did not have you down as a nostalgia act.
Yet it seems we’ve taken our eye off the bigger problems: Doherty’s disarming honesty was always one his redeeming features, and time has not weathered it as he reveals frankly (in the PR for this album) that he has been clean for just over two years.
Great news to be sure, and we wish him all the best in his continued quest, but that’s still relatively recent and merely serves to highlight the very nature of addiction: it’s an ever-present thing.
You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever, the best song on this new album, is Doherty distilled; one of the best things he’s put his name to (and there’s been many; his prolificity is another strength), it’s an incredibly catchy, upbeat indie pop song…about drugs.
‘Give me what I want, give me what I need’, he implores, confirming that the song was written during a period of self-described ‘white-knuckling’ and is about a subconscious yearning.
Sinister ballad The Monster (‘The monster adores me, stand and deliver, it felt so right’) tackles the same subject, Doherty refreshingly posturing that there’s reasons why he’s addicted, namely the pleasure it provides. It feels like a cliché to be discussing drugs so readily, but if Doherty does it then we must.
Fortunately, this splendid album doesn’t wallow on one subject, nor are the lyrics its most striking feature. In partnering with French composer and producer Frederic Lo, the erstwhile icon hasn’t sounded this inspired for years.
Lo complements Doherty with lavish, European production akin to Jacques Brel without smothering him in it, with the results being the logical conclusion to his finest ‘solo’ hour, 2004’s For Lovers.
Seemingly impressed, Doherty brings his A game as his softer tones on the title-track work well with the luscious strings and spaghetti-western solo. The gypsy, eastern-European guitars on The Glassblowers (an ode to Whitechapel) are a pleasant surprise, while the lesser-spotted influence of solo McCartney is apparent on Keeping Me On File, all country acoustics and warm melodies.
The Morricone-esque vibes and sweeping strings on The Epidemiologist ensure that it’s the best ever song about the determinants and patterns of disease conditions, and proves he hasn’t lost his knack for a turn of phrase (‘the best laid plans can oft go to f***ery’).
Doherty also covers the songwriting process on Rock & Roll Alchemy, which features his trademark off-key vocal when he reaches for a high note. Yes I Wear A Mask is ostensibly about the pandemic on one level, and confirms that doing so went against his libertarian instincts.
On Far From The Madding Crowd he bemoans the consequences of lockdown (‘where am I supposed to sing my song?’) accompanied by a mournful piano (although minus points for trying to rhyme ‘bar’ and ‘festival’, unsuccessfully). Lastly, Abe Wassenstein is a moving paean to a fallen comrade, but elsewhere there is much whimsy and positivity.
As ever with Peter Doherty there is darkness and light, as there is in life itself. This classy collection of songs finds him more relaxed and cogent than ever and is an excellent reminder of his God-given talent.
Until Carl, Gary and John can match his workload, The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime will do just fine."
Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo - The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime | Review | Live4ever
Until Carl, Gary and John can match his workload, Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo's The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime will do just fine.
www.live4ever.uk.com
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NME review ****
www.nme.com
Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo â âThe Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crimeâ review: Breezy and charming baroque indie
The Libertines man and French musician team up for a sweet and serene collaboration. Indie sleaze is not included
www.nme.com
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"Album Review: Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo, The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime
JOHN WALSHE
One-time enfant terrible of Brit-punk goes chamber-pop with French composer
For a cohort of music fans, now in their thirties, Peter Doherty was once an exalted blend of Lennon and Cobain, a pied piper of opiate dreams and killer couplets. His star may have waned in the two decades since The Libertines’ debut, but this collaboration with French songwriter and arranger Frédéric Lo is a breath of fresh Gallic air.
Gone are the angry guitars and snarled vocals, replaced with a string-laden backdrop of pristine chamber-pop: think Idles’ Joe Talbot recording with The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon. It all sounds remarkably pleasant, from the Richard Hawley-esque guitar solo on the title-track, to the wonderfully catchy handclaps and toe-taps of the poptastic ‘You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever’ – not to mention the lounge-like swing of ‘Keeping Me On File’. Much of the music is piano-driven, like chilling addiction anthem ‘The Monster’, or the brilliant ‘The Epidemiologist’, which sounds like the melody from Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ put through a European blender.
‘The Glassblower’ is a paean to a lost Whitechapel, Doherty bemoaning the “badly re-patched dreams, under-funded council schemes,” while the closing ‘Far From The Madding Crowd’ assesses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the entertainment industry. Impressive.
8/10"
www.hotpress.com
JOHN WALSHE
One-time enfant terrible of Brit-punk goes chamber-pop with French composer
For a cohort of music fans, now in their thirties, Peter Doherty was once an exalted blend of Lennon and Cobain, a pied piper of opiate dreams and killer couplets. His star may have waned in the two decades since The Libertines’ debut, but this collaboration with French songwriter and arranger Frédéric Lo is a breath of fresh Gallic air.
Gone are the angry guitars and snarled vocals, replaced with a string-laden backdrop of pristine chamber-pop: think Idles’ Joe Talbot recording with The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon. It all sounds remarkably pleasant, from the Richard Hawley-esque guitar solo on the title-track, to the wonderfully catchy handclaps and toe-taps of the poptastic ‘You Can’t Keep It From Me Forever’ – not to mention the lounge-like swing of ‘Keeping Me On File’. Much of the music is piano-driven, like chilling addiction anthem ‘The Monster’, or the brilliant ‘The Epidemiologist’, which sounds like the melody from Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ put through a European blender.
‘The Glassblower’ is a paean to a lost Whitechapel, Doherty bemoaning the “badly re-patched dreams, under-funded council schemes,” while the closing ‘Far From The Madding Crowd’ assesses the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the entertainment industry. Impressive.
8/10"
Album Review: Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo, <i>The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime</i> | Hotpress
One-time enfant terrible of Brit-punk goes chamber-pop with French composer
www.hotpress.com
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Album: Peter Doherty & Frédéric Lo - The Fantasy Life Of Poetry & Crime
Pete Doherty became a hunted man as he was falling apart, lent tabloid notoriety by his dissolute romance with Kate Moss.
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Anonymous
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From that ^ video description:
"Discover the very first concert of @peter Doherty x Strap Originals and Frédéric Lo. An intimate moment recorded in Etretat in the house where their album The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime was written and composed.
The first is Peter Doherty, British, flamboyant creator of The Libertines and Babyshambles. The second is Fréderic Lo, French, craftsman among other projects of the great return of Daniel Darc in the early 2000s.
The two men met during a studio recording of the Babyshambles before finding themselves at the bend of a tribute album to Daniel Darc, piloted by Fréderic Lo. On the strength of this first collaboration, the two artists decide to embark on a four-handed project. Thus was born The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime, an album with melodies and music by Fréderic Lo and lyrics by Peter Doherty."
It is in Etretat, in the studio house where The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime was born, that we find Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo. There, the two men take us on a stroll through different rooms of this 19th century residence to introduce us to the twelve songs they created together.
Concert filmed in January 2022 in Etretat in partnership with FIP.
"Discover the very first concert of @peter Doherty x Strap Originals and Frédéric Lo. An intimate moment recorded in Etretat in the house where their album The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime was written and composed.
The first is Peter Doherty, British, flamboyant creator of The Libertines and Babyshambles. The second is Fréderic Lo, French, craftsman among other projects of the great return of Daniel Darc in the early 2000s.
The two men met during a studio recording of the Babyshambles before finding themselves at the bend of a tribute album to Daniel Darc, piloted by Fréderic Lo. On the strength of this first collaboration, the two artists decide to embark on a four-handed project. Thus was born The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime, an album with melodies and music by Fréderic Lo and lyrics by Peter Doherty."
It is in Etretat, in the studio house where The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime was born, that we find Peter Doherty and Frédéric Lo. There, the two men take us on a stroll through different rooms of this 19th century residence to introduce us to the twelve songs they created together.
Concert filmed in January 2022 in Etretat in partnership with FIP.
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Anonymous
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Album here:
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Anonymous
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Rock & Roll Alchemy is an instant hit from the first listen!
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Love this! The album is great!
M
moz cat
Guest
The album is £3.49 on iTunes (UK)
ZOOM FROM GLOOM
LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA!
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Anonymous
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Wrong!
The MUSIC on Spotify is great. The middleman that is Spotify, is simply a tool to get the tunes into our heads; just like YouTube, iTunes etc.
@ moz cat
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Anonymous
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I'm seeing £4.99. Still only 50p a track. Rock & Roll Alchemy is worth £5 by itself! Man, I f***ing love that track!
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Anonymous
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I meant 41p. Crazy times!
ZOOM FROM GLOOM
LASCIATE OGNI SPERANZA!
Wrong!
The MUSIC on Spotify is great. The middleman that is Spotify, is simply a tool to get the tunes into our heads; just like YouTube, iTunes etc.
@ moz cat
Peter D finds nothing wrong with Spotify.
so use Spotify, Spotify must be great!
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Live in Paris 2022
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