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Rappel​*​le (2023)

by Marianne Dissard

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Dirty Work 03:23
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Refractions 03:13
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about

‘Rappel*le’ collects a series of transformative cover versions recorded from 2020 to ‘23, in collaboration with English producer & multi-instrumentalist Raphael Mann, started whilst they were stuck as the result of lockdown restrictions in different cities.

The songs were released as singles as they were completed, with videos by Raphael Mann - the earliest in April 2020 a version of Phil Och’s ‘The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns’, repurposed as a comment on the Covid-19 pandemic just as the virus was spreading around the world; Janis Ian’s bittersweet ‘At Seventeen’ (recorded as two different versions, “His” & “Hers” with contrasting moods); Steely Dan’s ‘Dirty Work’; Ritchie Valens’ ‘Come On, Let’s Go!’; Bobbie Gentry’s eery ‘Refractions’; Townes Van Zandt’s ‘If I Needed You’, as a wistful duet with Mann.

The album also includes an additional three tracks: the only unreleased single, a chilling deconstruction of War’s ‘Slippin’ Into Darkness’; Adriano Celentano’s Italian novelty hit ‘Prisencolinensinainciusol’ reinvented as an incendiary condemnation of contemporary politicians, released as a single in April 2021; and closing the album cycle, a dreamy version of Carly Simon’s ‘Happy Birthday’ released with a video by Marianne in January 2023.



⭕ BACK STORY ⭕

I always hoped these songs, released all along as singles, would ultimately amount to an album, my first album of covers, but it wasn’t until straggler ‘Happy Birthday’ that I felt I’d finally found the missing piece of 'my' tracklisting puzzle.



‘Rappel*le’ is an odd name. Quite simply, it’s ‘hers’, the *elle* version of ‘Rappel’. The director’s cut.

And ‘Rappel’? Raphael Mann, my main creative partner on a project that stretched over the first three years of the pandemic, released ‘Rappel’, his tracklisting of our songs, in April 2022 exclusively on his label Frizz Records (frizzrecords.bandcamp.com/album/rappel).

Raphael’s version contains all the tracks we recorded together (the producer’s cut!), whilst mine omits some, either because I wasn’t wholly in love with them or because they were radio edits and bonuses which, in my view, confused the album’s narrative.



And as I see it, ‘Rappel*le’ is a journey, with a story arc—I was (still am!) a filmmaker before I started making music—and a fictional self-portrait.

‘She’, the central female character, is on a quest to understand what on earth it’s all been about. ‘She’ looks back at her teenage self (‘At Seventeen’); ponders the cold truths of marriage, middle age, and monogamy (‘Dirty Work’, ‘Happy Birthday’); still feels as much longing and desire as a teenage boy would (‘Come On, Let’s Go!). Ultimately, ‘She’ finds hope, hard-won wisdom, and maturity—and above all, love, the ‘other’, albeit with a question mark (‘If I Needed You’). But a dramatic turn of events derails this natural coming of (middle) age. ‘She’ slowly cracks (‘Refractions’, ‘Slippin’ Into Darkness’), subjected, as we’ve all been in recent years, to a barrage of distressing news soundbites (‘Prisencolinensinainciusol’) and to a powerful virus that dramatically reveals but can’t quite upend Business-as-Usual (‘The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns’).



As I said, that’s just one way of looking at these songs. We humans are wired to connect the dots and you’ll make up your own tale re-arranging those songs and picking your favorites— tracklisting as exercises in self-portraiture, on our 1980s teenage cassette compilations as much as today our streaming playlists (also on Bandcamp now!).

*Se rappeller* is French for to remember, and *un rappel* a product recall, a theatrical encore, or a vaccine booster whilst *descendre en rappel* is lowering oneself with a double rope coiled around the body from a vertical mountainside—and how vertiginous, these artists we covered!. I want to thank the songwriters whose work inspired us enough to want to mess with their creations (not that the dead would mind, on the contrary): Janis Ian, Steely Dan, Ritchie Valens, Carly Simon, Townes Van Zandt, Bobbie Gentry, War, Adriano Celentano, and Phil Ochs.



I am also beyond grateful to my collaborators and especially to Raphael Mann whose artistry equals only his patience, and whose rigorous and methodical approach to music-making ideally complements my own disheveled ways. This was truly our lockdown project, a labour of love, and although we didn't see each other IRL during the greater part of those three years, we literally squatted in each other’s head the whole time. We wouldn’t have been able to make this music otherwise.

Now go listen to ‘Rappel*le’ and ‘Rappel’. They’re two completely different albums cut from the same cloth.

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credits

released March 3, 2023

⭕ CREDITS ⭕

Album produced by Marianne Dissard & Raphael Mann

► Musicians ◄

⭕ Marianne Dissard - vocals, samples 8
⭕ Raphael Mann - vocals, electric & acoustic guitars, ukulele, piano, Clavinet, Realistic MG-1 synth, reed organ, bass guitar, drums, drum machine, percussion, glockenspiel, kalimba, sound effects & samples
⭕ Naïm Amor - electric guitars 3, acoustic guitars 1
⭕ Saylor Breckenridge - harmonica 8
⭕ Vicki Brown - loops & violin 9
⭕ Luke Doucet - electric guitar 8
⭕ Claire Dugue - hurdy-gurdy 7
⭕ Terry Edwards - tenor sax 2, tenor & baritone saxes 3, flute 1
⭕ Connor Gallaher - electric guitars & 12-string acoustic 2, electric guitar 8
⭕ Tom Hagerman - violas & violins on 5, 6, 7
⭕ Thøger Lund - bass guitar 1, bass guitar & double bass 9, double bass
⭕ Matt Mitchell - acoustic guitar 5
⭕ Christian Ravaglioli - clavinet 8
⭕ Matt Rendon - drums & vocals 2
⭕ Marco Rosano - tin flute & trombone 9
⭕ Bélen Ruiz- cellos 1, 5, 6
⭕ Jon Villa - trumpets 8
⭕ Arthur Vint - drums 8

String arrangements by Raphael Mann

► Engineers ◄

Mixed by Raphael Mann except 9 mixed by Jim Waters at Waterworks Studio, Tucson, AZ

Each musician recorded their parts from their respective home studios except basic tracks for 2 recorded by Matt Rendon at Midtown Island, Tucson, AZ and basic tracks for 8 recorded by Jim Waters at Waterworks, Tucson, AZ

Mastered by Bill Sellar at LOUD Mastering, UK

Artwork and cassette design by Marianne Dissard from Raphael Mann's original artwork for 'Rappel'

⭕ TRACKLISTING ⭕

^ produced by Marianne Dissard & Raphael Mann
# produced by Raphael Mann
+ produced by Marianne Dissard

Videos by Raphael Mann except 4 by Marianne Dissard

1. At Seventeen ('His') (Janis Ian) ^
⭕ VIDEO - youtu.be/DBVf0O2_KOA

2. Dirty Work (Steely Dan) ^
⭕ VIDEO - youtu.be/iFlOY5fbwrU

3. Come On, Let's Go! (Ritchie Valens) ^
⭕ VIDEO - youtu.be/hLOAel3WqxA

4. Happy Birthday (Carly Simon) ^
⭕ VIDEO - vimeo.com/mariannedissard/happybirthday

5. If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt) ^
⭕ VIDEO - youtu.be/yrZ20BWzGXk

6. Refractions (Bobbie Gentry) #
⭕ VIDEO - youtu.be/b2-EqjMxYYo

7. Slippin' Into Darkness (War) #

8. Prisencolinensinainciusol (Adriano Celentano) ^

9. The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns (Phil Ochs) +
⭕ VIDEO - youtu.be/NT3h5XWFV_Y

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Marianne Dissard

Baroque Sonoran noir chanson from Tucson & now beyond by tumbleweed singer, street photographer, filmmaker, performer & brutally honest author.

Left her home in Tucson, Arizona for a dream boat in England. Drifted to Scotland.

“An eccentric character who releases very fine and wonderful records, in fact so eccentric she once toured the French Pyrénées on foot with a donkey” Marc Riley BBC6
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