On April 14th 2009, Richards on Richards played host to France’s version of a sex icon, Sebastien Tellier. He was accompanied by “66.6% of Chairlift” according to the lead vocalist Caroline Polachek when she explained that due to some border issues Aaron Pfenning (vocals/electronics/guitar) was unable to join them that night.

This was the first time I had ever heard of chairlift. When I asked Matt Owchar (Chalked Up/Expandable Youth), who in part with Timbre was responsible for putting on this event, he said they were an indie pop band and had a song featured in an ipod commercial.

Chairlift opened with a solo by Caroline (vocals/synthesizer) of a song which was dreamy and melodic. She was easy to listen to as well as look at. She was then joined by Patrick Wimberly (drums/bass guitar. They then proceeded to perform a number of covers my favorite being their version of Snoop Dogs “Sensual Seduction”. I was thoroughly impressed with the 66.6% of chairlift and I’m willing to bet that 100% chairlift would be at least 33.4% better.

Chairlift – Bruises

The intermission seemed rather quick thanks to the DJ duo Expandable Youth (two of my favourite Vancouver djs) who played at the beginning of the night and during Tellier’s setup.

The room had filled up some more and the majority of people crowded their way towards the stage. There was ratio of about 50/50 men to women. The crowd was made up mostly of hipsters, lovers, romantics and probably sex addicts.

I was rather eager to start watching and listening to Mr. Sexuality himself, or Jesus, as my roommate (hawkeye) called him after checking out a photo I had up on my monitor. I thought to myself that if Jesus walked around in stylish threads with a bottle of wine seducing women with sexy French rhythms; I’d be inclined to join his religion.

First song was “Kilometer”. Sebastien sang and moaned into the vocoder while playing his guitar for this one. The live version almost gave it a bit of a rock feel, which was cool in its own way. He performed an array of his other songs which were all done extremely well in my opinion. “Divine” had people singing under their breaths, “Sexual Sportswear” had the predominantly motionless, but appreciative crowd move a little for the first time of the night. For his song “La Ritournelle”, he further showcased his musicianship by playing the piano with a drunken passion. It instantly became my favorite track of his, bumping the tie of “kilometer” and “Roche” off its vestibule.

During numerous points in the show Sebastien would talk and mumble to the audience in his thick French accent. Most of the times I couldn’t understand what he was on about but from the crowd’s reaction it would have almost seemed as if Tellier was doing stand up comedy. He also poured himself wine quite often and at one point after filling his glass, opted to drink from the bottle instead. Only the French could pull off something like that and make it look good enough to have beams of hearts shoot out of a few women’s eyes (Nadia). He had won over our hearts, minds and ears easily.

The Sebastien Tellier show was well worth the $25 admission. His melodies and vocals had me in a sort of euphoric state (yea, I had a few drinks). His antics kept me engaged and with a smile throughout the night. His look and charm, coupled with his body at one point lying horizontally on top of his piano while serenading the audience, even had a friend of mine nearly try and pop the question on him (Nadia). All in all it’s nice when the music isn’t the only thing keeping me entertained at a live show.

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