April March and Olivia Jean have released the music video for “Allons-y” from their split 7″ Palladium EP (out now via Third Man Records). The video was shot in Third Man Nashville’s famed Blue Room and features the duo performing the ESG-influenced tune with their band.
The pair recorded three renditions each of the same tune for the EP, with April March singing “Allons-y” in French and Olivia Jean singing “Let’s Go” in English. Each track is presented in a different musical style (with Olivia Jean taking the English versions and April March taking the French) for a total of six tracks. Stream and purchase the full Palladium EP on black vinyl HERE.
The 7″ vinyl release contains side A en Francais “Allons-y” and side B in English “Let’s Go,” though all six versions are available digitally (find the full track listing below).
Olivia Jean is back on the scene, teaming up with April March (whose cover of “Chick Habit” was featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof). The duo focuses their inimitable blend of danceable badass on three distinct versions of the same song.
Super fun! Génialissime! Beautiful! C’est magnifique! Get to it!
About April March:
In a former life April March must have been a rockier fairy than Tinker Bell and like a cat, she has already had several lives. An animator trained by Disney, she has animated for Pee-wee Herman, Ren & Stimpy, Madonna, worked on Archie Comics, assisted Spiderman creator Steve Ditko and even assisted the legendary Harry Smith who occasionally brought Allen Ginsberg in tow to mentor her. She entered the NYC music scene with her garage girl-group The Pussywillows, which Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes, promptly hired to record and perform with her. A year into her music career, she landed on stage with Ronnie Spector at a completely sold out Madison Square Garden. Over a large plate of chicken back stage, Bo Diddley said to her, “Welcome to Rock and Roll.”
She cut her teeth in self production on a slew of popular to very obscure covers and adaptations of songs the French themselves had forgotten. Quentin Tarantino plucked “Chick Habit,” her adaptation of Gainsbourg’s “Laisse Tomber Les Filles,” to feature in his film “Death Proof.” She recorded “Chick Habit” with the help of Andy Paley who introduced her to Brian Wilson.
This began a nice stretch of recording on and off with Brian for the next couple of years subsequently giving her a priceless education in both arrangement and production. Next she met the modern day French Phil Spector — Bertrand Burgalat (just as talented, but a lot less dangerous). She made two albums with Burgalat, the first of which “Chrominance Decoder,” was chosen as one of the top ten albums of the year by The New Yorker and in the top 100 of all time by the seminal French magazine Rock et Folk. Burgalat introduced her to the great Aquaserge which led to an album and two films directed by Marie Losier landing her performances at The Centre Pompidou, MOMA and PS1.
And so at this point in time, April March has recorded with Ronnie Spector, Brian Wilson, Jonathan Richman, R.L. Burnside, Andy Paley, Bertand Burgalat, Tony Allen, Yo La Tengo, LL Cool J, Alain Chamfort, Darlene Love, The Dust Brothers, Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab), Maya Rudolph, Sean OHagan, and Aquaserge. She has just been cast alongside Gerard Depardieu and Vanessa Paradis in a feature film.
After having published a children’s book with Jack White called “We Are Going To Be Friends,” she’s recorded an E.P. with Olivia Jean in his studio. She’s releasing a new album with the amazing Fugu featuring Tony Allen of Fela and Gorillaz as well as Marilyn Wilson of The Beach Boys and American Spring on June 12th with Record Store Day. Olè!
About Olivia Jean:
Olivia Jean, Detroit born n’ bred, current resident of Nashville, TN, first staked her flag with the gothic garage rock upstarts The Black Belles in 2010 and quickly set herself apart from the pack, performing as a side musician to a varied group of stylistically diverse musicians on a variety of instruments, culminating with her debut solo release Bathtub Love Killings in 2014.
Bathtub Love Killings was produced by Jack White with Olivia Jean composing and playing every instrument on the album. The album was an exciting and concise statement with a controlled vision of where rock n’ roll can go in these modern pop-dominated times.
Her latest, Night Owl, takes this vision even further by placing Olivia behind the control desk in the role of producer. Surf guitar, 60s girl group harmonies, and punk commingle into a collection of songs depicting heartache, revenge, guilt, and frustration — it’s “bubblegum garage” at its best.
Sitting in the Producer chair also led to the decision to include additional musicians into Olivia’s recording process for the first time, which helped evoke a renewed natural energy to the songs. The new challenge of producing, as well as opening the studio door for other musicians to collaborate, has helped lead to Olivia’s richest collection of songs to date. Surf-inflected originals like “Garage Bat,” “Shut Your Mouth” and “Night Owl” soar and scorch alongside incendiary covers “Brushfire (Flamin’ Groovies)” and album stand-out “Jaan Pehechaan Ho” (Mohammad Rafi – made famous in Terry Zwigoff’s film Ghost World).
