L'Attirail - How to Swim in the Desert (2018)

HOW TO SWIM IN THE DESERT This twelfth album, both burlesque and sensitive, flirts with ska music in a free and joyful way. With their eccentric theme of watersports in the desert, L’Attirail entice their listeners on a new, yet more dreamlike and surreal trip. What is novel about this album is that L’Attirail tell their stories in words. Sidi Bémol sings his funny, sensitive or madcap lyrics on three songs, making the Kazakh language his own in a very free way in Le Drogman fait la planche (The Dragoman floats). This album evokes desert sports federations such as the Kazakh swimming association and the rowing club of Zanalash, flying fish caught in sandstorms, mirages of sand castles, mysterious appearances of big pools of water, swimming techniques in oases, as well as the inadequate clothing of team managers… It is in this spirit that Xavier Demerliac and Sidi Bemol have got together to shoot a little film in the desert which deals with a mysterious, stranded diver and with a night in the desert around an ancient Franche-Comté clock.

Xavier Demerliac : guitars, trombone, banjo
Eric Laboulle : drums, percussion
Alexandre Michel : clarinet, monochord
Xavier Milhou : electric bass guitars, percussion
Sébastien Palis : accordion
Clément Robin : accordion, keyboards
Guest:
Hocine Boukella : vocals

Tracklist:
3:03 | 01. L'Attirail - Duck Pond Swimmer
3:07 | 02. L'Attirail & Sidi Bémol - How to Swim in the Desert
3:54 | 03. L'Attirail - The Great Jackknife
3:16 | 04. L'Attirail - Flying Fish as a Bird
3:25 | 05. L'Attirail & Sidi Bémol - The Grin Without the Cat
4:22 | 06. L'Attirail - Aral Crawl
3:28 | 07. L'Attirail & Sidi Bémol - Le drogman fait la planche
3:28 | 08. L'Attirail - Zalanash Rowing Club
3:12 | 09. L'Attirail - Coach in Disguise
3:11 | 10. L'Attirail - The Mirage of the Mud Pie
3:17 | 11. L'Attirail - Swimming Kazak Association
3:19 | 12. L'Attirail - Mysterious Big Puddle
4:18 | 13. L'Attirail - The Great Jackknife (Dub Version)
4:11 | 14. L'Attirail - Aral Crawl (Dub Version)