For the third single taken from his upcoming, ninth solo LP O Paraíso, Brazilian Lucas Santtana turns the clock back to 1967, covering Paul McCartney’s The Fool on the Hill with Flore Benguigui from the French band L’Imperatrice.
“I’m a big fan of The Beatles and this has always been one of my favourite songs. The song was inspired by the guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and in my understanding the lyrics speak about a Shaman. About someone who is seeing things that others still can’t see and therefore mock him. The same kind of feedback is present today for a climate catastrophe that is ever closer to us.”
The new single comes with a stunningly animated video by directors Claire Valles and Lucile Paras who build on Santtana’s message and concerns for our planet.
“The video for ‘The Fool On The Hill’ is a contemplative tale,” they explain, “An invitation to slow down, to marvel at nature. The giant on the hill does not move at the same pace as the city’s inhabitants, he spends his days alone and motionless watching nature metamorphose. The medium of animation allows us to play with supernatural relationships of scale, perspective and time, and to pay particular attention to the work of vegetation and landscape, using a mixture of traditional and digital techniques (animation, after effect animation, ink textures on paper).”
O Paraíso is an album brim full of inventive sonic touches, mixing Santtana’s soulful and localised Brazilian music stamp with jazz and electronica and is set for release via French imprint No Format! (Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Oumou Sangaré) on January 13th. Santtana will mark the release of his new album with a newly announced headline show at London’s Jazz Cafe on 16th February.
Pre-Order O Paraíso – https://lucassant.bandcamp.com/album/o-para-so