CharlElie Couture left his Paris home to relocate to New York this summer and, although doubtless disappointed by the results of the presidential elections in the U.S., he shows no signs of changing his new address. "New York's a modern Babel,” he enthuses, “The city’s really a case apart. It’s full of artists and creative types who’ve migrated here from all over the planet." The Big Apple is obviously a hotbed of artistic inspiration, but was this the only reason for CharlElie's upping sticks and heading across the Atlantic? "No, there's more to it than that," he admits, "Since the age of 15, I’ve pursued a career on two fronts, pursuing parallel activities as a painter and musician. I’m a multi-disciplinary artist. But the fame I’ve acquired on stage as a singer and musician has changed the way people in France consider my work in the visual world. The reason I moved to New York was to develop my painting. I simply wanted to break out of the pigeon-hole certain people tried to shut me in."

CharlElie's sound may be difficult to pin down into any one category, but thanks to his quirky lyrics, the distinctive timbre of his voice and his general outlook on life, his music is instantly recognisable. In the past the multi-talented artist has always looked after the music on his own albums, carefully honing his compositions to fit his lyrics. But Double Vue marks a break with this tradition. This time round, CharlElie invited guest composers to work on 11 of the 12 tracks on his new offering. CharlElie has a simple justification for this sudden change of musical approach. "Why?" he ponders, "Because these guys might be completely unknown on the musical mainstream, but I like what they’re doing - and because they deserve it!”

The French iconoclast admits another reason for seeking fresh input in his work is that he grew "sick and tired of everyone telling me such and such a piece of work was pure Couture! Frankly, I think I must sound Couture even in my sleep! I went out to Los Angeles and Chicago and Australia and I worked with musicians who threw themselves heart and soul into what we did together. But all people could say was ‘Oh, that’s pure Couture!’ I guess it’s because of my voice. I got so sick of it all I tried to make an album where I barely sang at all. That was Dawn Town Project, but people still claimed that album sounded Couture. Even when I did the musical ‘Alice In Wonderland’ people claimed it was Couture! Personally, I’m a bit wary of false compliments. It’s as if the fame I’ve acquired is like lead stuck to the soles of my feet and people throw me in the deep end, shouting ‘Try to keep your head above water!"

In an attempt to kick off the weight of his lead soles, CharlElie decided to branch out and work with a host of up-and-coming composers including Dombrance, Naïche, Mathias Delplanque, Usthiax B, Alice Botté, Gresky and D.Mezee and Mo Benjamin & Leroy Chambers. This unexpected group of guest composers were all people he had bumped into in real life or met by chance on the Net. "Basically, this time round I allowed myself to be moulded by the different know-how different artists brought to the project," says CharlElie. Nevertheless, the singer-songwriter claims he could never imagine trying a similar experiment one day with his lyrics. "I could never imagine putting words into my mouth that weren’t my own!" he declares.

On the other hand, wearing others' compositions appears to suit him right down to the ground and CharlElie appears to be delighted with his new 'wardrobe,' raving about the talent of young up-and-coming artists such as Dombrance (who composed music for four tracks on Double Vue as well as producing the album). "Dombrance is this young 25-year-old from Bordeaux who works as a composer and ‘cellist. He’s also a brilliant guitarist," CharlElie says, "I think he understands me intuitively, better than I do myself, in fact. I really hope we’ll get to work together again in the future. But for the time being, he’s got his debut solo album as a singer coming out on Virgin in January."

CharlElie appears to have savoured something particular in each encounter. The thing that struck him most about Naïche, he admits, was entering the junk-filled inner sanctum where the artist works with three computers and a television set flickering away permanently in the background. "It's amazing," CharlElie recalls, "His LPs and CDs are all piled on top of each other in between heaps of clothes. They form the most amazing patterns when he's not using them!" Then of course, there were memorable moments with D.Mezee and Mo Benjamin & Leroy Chambers from San Francisco and Mathias Delplanque, "a real creative on the electro scene," who lives in Canada. "As for Alice Botté," continues CharlElie, "he’s an old friend of mine. He’s been playing with me for years now and we tend to keep in touch a lot via Internet. Anyway, I’d never really listened to anything he’d done on his own. Lately, he’s got into mixing on computers and messing about with programmes and stuff and that really stimulated him. One afternoon I dropped in to see him and I was so inspired by what he was doing I went off straightaway and wrote a series of lyrics."

CharlElie also heaps praises on Gresky, "a brilliant electro-jazz trio," and Usthiax B. "He’s this really talented 27-year-old who composes very simple yet very ‘literary’ songs," he enthuses, "I’d say his songs are partway between The Eels and maybe someone like Gérard Manset. Usthiax B has really forged his own style. I’m a big fan of his music and I’m sure he’ll find a record label very soon. He bloody well deserves to in any case!”

The admiration appears to be mutual, too. Usthiax B, an entirely self-taught musician who has been living in Marseilles for the past four years, admits the collaboration with Couture completely bowled him over. “It came totally out of the blue," he says, "I wasn’t expecting anything like this at all! What happened was I sent CharlElie two or three tracks in MP3. And he got back to me saying, ‘There’s a real colour and maturity here and the sound is great! It’s fantastic the way the songs manage to switch between velvet and satin tones, rhythm and solitude and work in a bit of humour and spontaneous poetry, too."

Encouraged by CharlElie's e-mail, Usthiax B nipped up to Paris in search of a record label and took advantage of the trip to meet his admirer from overseas. The pair hit it off immediately and Usthiax B presented CharlElie with a new demo tape. "When CharlElie got back to the States he sent me the lyrics to 'Eugène le Gène' and I immediately shut myself away and started working on my machines." Needless to say, the track features on CharlElie's album.

Usthiax B's own eponymous 11-track album is slightly harder to find. Currently, it is only available in a handful of stores in the south of France or sold after his concerts. The second track on the album is Walou, a duo recorded with CharlElie. Usthiax B recalls, "That was another occasion where we worked together over the Net. I’m really pleased to have had the chance of working with CharlElie. It pushed me to take things a lot further… I’m in total admiration of the man. I mean, just how does he find the time between his painting, his music and his website to maintain that level of creativity?" A miracle, we agree!

CharlElie Couture Double vue (Wagram music) 2004