It has been twenty years since his previous efforts, Intoxicated Man & Pink Elephants and seeing as they were reissued as a double album in 2014, Harvey began playing shows here in Australia and in Europe to celebrate. Clearly enjoying these reinterpretations, Harvey decided to resume the project: “Many of the songs I have recorded are ones I had hoped to translate the first time I approached this material but I just thought they would be ones that were too hard to translate. But once I sunk my teeth into the task I found they were no more problematic than most of the songs from the first two albums.” says Harvey. “The whole project has just been enormous fun to be honest.”
On Delirium Tremens, Harvey treats listeners to a diverse range of Gainsbourg’s material, From 1976’s ‘The Man With The Cabbage Head’ (L’homme à Tête De Chou) all the way back to early songs, such as ‘Deadly Tedium’ (Ce Mortel Ennui) and ‘Coffee Colour’ (Couleur Cafe) from the late ’50s and early ’60s. With initial recordings taking place at Birdland studios in Melbourne, Harvey took the project to Berlin where he collaborated Bertrand Burgalat who was the string arranger for the first volumes of Harvey’s project.
Delirium Tremens will be released on June 24. For more details, head to mickharvey.com