Wax Tailor - In The Mood For Life

French producer Wax Tailor releases his long awaited third album ‘In the Mood for Life’ through Wagram. Wax Tailor’s distinctive style is instantly recognisable but evolved writing and emphasis on string arrangements sees him embrace 60s pop and soundtracks to add to his palette of soul, funk and hip-hop.

His first album ‘Tales of the Forgotten Melodies’ drew comparisons to the likes of RJD2, Portishead and DJ Shadow, while his second ‘Hope & Sorrow’ (80,000 sold worldwide) landed him nominations at the prestigious Victoires de la Musiques and US Indie Awards. Wax Tailor is coming off a year which saw him tour relentlessly (over 200 concerts) and score the title track for the movie ‘Paris’ by Cedric Klapisch.

Having an “urban mood” in mind, Le Saoût headed across the Atlantic to produce ‘In the Mood for Life’ in New York as well as Paris. WT states “it's a long story about New York, just because that's the basis for a lot of things that have influenced me; about music, about cinema, about a lot of artists.”

A chance encounter in New York with artist and musician Sara Genn inspired Wax to write her the song ‘Dry Your Eyes’ with his friend Marina Quaisse, especially to match her voice. Other guest vocalists include Scandinavian hip-hop kings Speech Defect, Dionne Charles - one of the great voices of UK soul, singer-songwriter Charlie Winston, Mattic – the charismatic MC who has been there since the first album, the European collective ASM - who provided one of the highlights of the last album, Voice & Ali Harter – an incongruous meeting of the Louisiana MC and of one of folk music’s best kept secrets; and consistent muse Charlotte Savary.

Wax Tailor is the working pseudonym of French hip hop producer, Jean-Christophe Le Saoût. Born in 1975 in Vernon, Eure, Le Saoût has been involved in the French music scene from the early 90s. “I think when I began to work on this project it was 2002. That was the moment when I was quite bored about those separate things (jazz and hip hop) and wanted to have a blend of all the influences and the things that I really liked to mix. So that was the point when I was thinking about all my influences and thinking I want to make everything in it.”

Wax Tailor has performed around the world and shared the stage with a variety of acts including Air, Bonobo and De La Soul.

His music is beyond genres and defies categorization, it is a modern brand of pop music, designed with a rigor and an expertise that betrays the love this artist puts into his craft.

myspace.com/waxtailor | twitter.com/waxtailor