Un Suedois a Paris... puis a Berlin
Peter Von Poehl nait d?une mere suedoise et d?un pere allemand en Suede, ou il vit une enfance choyee et heureuse. Il s?installe en France en 1998. C?est Bertrand Burgalat qui repere en premier le talent de ce multi-instrumentiste?; et l?engage comme guitariste pour son label Tricatel. Von Poehl participe ainsi en 2000 a l?album Presence Humaine de Michel Houellebecq, et retrouve ainsi a jouer au sein de A.S. Dragon.
Forme pour assurer la tournee de Houellebecq, ce groupe d?accompagnement reunit Fred Jimenez a la basse, Michael Garcon aux claviers, Stephane Salvi au chant, Herve Bouetard a la batterie et donc von Poehl a la guitare. Ils accompagnent egalement Alain Chamfort en studio et en concert, puis Burgalat sur ses disques du moment et une tournee dont restera un album live?: Bertrand Burgalat meet A.S Dragon (2001). Peu apres, les membres de A.S. Dragon formulent leur desir de devenir un groupe de rock a part entiere. Ce n?est pas ce que souhaite Peter von Poehl, qui s?eclipse de la formation.
En 2004, il s?installe a Berlin, ou il fonde son propre label, Graeferecordings, avec son ami Florian Horwath. Ce qui ne l?empeche guere de composer, jouer et produire sur les albums des autres, comme Marie Modiano (I?m Not a Rose, 2006 et Outland, 2008) Lio (Dites au prince charmant, 2006), son ami Doriand (Le Grand Bain, 2006). Il realise egalement le troisieme album de Vincent Delerm, Les Piqures d'araignee (2006) avant de participer aux tournees de Phoenix et Air dont il assure avec brio les premieres parties ? ce qui contribuera fortement a le faire connaitre.
La revelation de Going Where the Tea-Trees Are
En plus de toutes ses activites de parolier et compositeur pour les autres, Peter von Poehl travaille egalement sur ses projets personnels ? dont son premier album, qui doit originellement s?intituler Mummenschanz. Ce mot emprunte au vieil allemand signifie ? musicien bouffon itinerant ?, en substance ??troubadour??. Enregistre entre les paysages campagnards de la Suede et les rues citadines de Belin, l?album se nomme en definitive Going Where the Tea-Trees Are, et se revele empreint d?un veritable desir de retour aux sources suedoises.
Manquant de moyens, von Poehl le publie d?abord en format 45 tours. La station de radio francaise Nova en prend par hasard connaissance, et, criant au genie, s?empresse le passer en boucle sur les ondes. C?est le debut de la reconnaissance?: Peter von Poehl peut alors signer chez le label francais Tot ou Tard, qui sort Going Where the Tea-Trees Are en mai 2006.
L?album, chef d?oeuvre de pop-folk lunaire et sensible, connait une belle reconnaissance critique, puis publique. En 2008, alors que Going Where the Tea-Trees Are sort aux Etats-Unis et en Australie, Peter von Poehl commence lors de ses concerts (de plus en plus prises) a presenter les chansons de son prochain album, May Day, prevu en 2009, dont certaines chansons ont ete ecrites avec Marie Modiano. Parallelement, il continue a collaborer avec d?autres artistes comme Vincent Delerm (Quinze Chansons, novembre 2008).
Artiste complet
Partageant sa vie et puisant ses inspirations entre la France, l?Allemagne et la Suede, Peter von Poehl est un compositeur et musicien accompli, capable de melodies intimes comme d?instrumentations grandioses. Et la qualite de son ecriture (pour lui et pour les autres) ne semble guere se tarir.
En fevrier 2009 est publie son second album, May Day, un disque delicatement ouvrage, nanti de ballades graciles et de petites symphonies pop dont il a le secret.
Copyright 2010 Music Story Sophie Rosemont
Big Issues Printed Small
Peter von Poehl is back with Big Issues Printed Small, a sweeping, yet intimate album that?s more orchestrated than its predecessors, but retains the Swedish musician?s trademark talent for melody.
Four years have passed since the last track on May Day and the first on its splendid successor Big Issues Printed Small, but Peter von Poehl needed the time. ?I composed May Day after three years of uninterrupted touring,? he says. ?This time I was happy I could take my time and feed off other projects.? The Paris-based Swede didn?t completely abandon his fans, however. His songs played out the final scenes and credits of two French hit films Heartbreaker and Declaration of War, while he wrote the scores to two other films, Valerie Donzelli?s Main dans la main and the already-cult science-fiction film Vanishing Waves.
The 10 songs on Big Issues Printed Small were written by von Poehl, before being orchestrated with his collaborator (and founding member of The Soundtrack of Our Lives) Martin Hederos. They were then ?rehearsed,? tested and polished at a series of live shows over a period of two years. ?It was an extremely luxurious way to put together a record,? says von Poehl. ?I was able to try out the new songs live with different sets of musicians.? Whether playing with a single cello player or a 40-piece orchestra, however, von Poehl kept the same idea in mind: the album should sound, as he puts it, ?like a lo-fi record with an orchestra.?
Once the songs were ready Peter von Poehl headed up to Vallarum, just outside Malmo, and his favourite studio Aerosol Grey Machine. There, in the Swedish countryside, he was reunited with Christoffer Lundquist, the engineer and co-producer of the first two albums, as well as Hederos and 20 musicians. The songs were then all recorded on old-fashioned tape one after the other in just one day in an effort to keep things spontaneous. ?Because the musicians needed to have scores for the concerts, the music of each song was fixed on paper? explains von Poehl. ?When we went into the studio I wanted to take the scores as a starting point but then make sure that the recording felt natural, embracing the unexpected and keeping in all the surprises that can pop up in this type of session.?
The fruit of this autumnal session is the graceful and moving Big Issues Printed Small, a big record of miniatures, a magnificent sum of details, on which arrangements, skill and talent all work together in the service of emotion. In 10 tracks, the album is a return to the intimacy of the unforgettable Going to Where the Tea Trees Are, but with the extra sweep of orchestration. The cascades of clarinets, oboes and trombones on tracks such as ?Lover?s Leap? and ?To the Golden Rose? bring to mind the epic yet fragile work of Sufjan Steven, while the title track is a feat of delicacy, a little melodic miracle with graceful horns, which feels like a strange meeting between Neil Hannon and Dylan circa ?The Times They Are A-changin?? Sweeping, yet intimate, Big Issues Printed Small is an album of heart-piercing contradictions.
Management: David Barat (david@bellevuemusic.net / +33 6 18 41 50 85)
Please mention www.petervonpoehl.com
- 2013
- 2011
