Once again teasing us with creative bits of art is French band Ödland, this time with a series of photographs of the always stunning Alizée Bingöllü. With these photographs comes a rambling message clouded in mystery, reproduced in part here. Ödland has always blended their very unique style of underground French classical pop with the artistic, a feat they accomplish gracefully with these teasers.

Hello Andrew.
I hope your fine.
I know you appreciate our way of teasing.
And I would like to tell you more about some curiosity we are planning.
This is a complete association between me, Ödland, Feebrile, Le Petit Écho Malade, MellSan and Children of the Wolf about the next Ödland’s production.
But for now this is a secret, a real mystere.
We just post interrogative photographs like the few I attached to you.
You may know we are working on our second album “Sankta Lucia”.
But for our 2 years birthday we prepared a great surprise called “Zoophyte”.

… (this paragraph has been removed upon request) …

Please keep all the informations in the second paragraph secret, you understand this is very important for us. I tell you all of this because I thought you may be interested by this curious teasing photographs, and if you want to post them, it would be a pleasure for us, you see.

All the best.
Lorenzo Papace, Ödland

Intrigued yet? Curious? I know we are (although we have a bit more insight into this Zoophyte thing). Here’s a taste of Ödland’s past – an early song we quite enjoy called “The Caterpillar.”

Download: “The Caterpillar” by Ödland

So, the question is: What is Zoophyte? Ponder the mystere [sic] a bit more with these intriguing photographs…

Anticipation has been building. Ödland‘s new record has had a dozen teasers, and behind all the humor has been snippets of a real catchy track – what we now know to be “The Queen Of Hearts”. Yesterday, Lorenzo Papace, the main musical man behind Ödland, posted a video for the song.

Featuring mixed-media, the video emphasizes Ödland’s modern experimental French classical sounds, complimenting them with insurmountable brilliance. “The Queen Of Hearts” comes very close to topping everything off the band’s debut EP, The Caterpillar; muse-like Alizée Bingöllü has never sounded so drawing, and the band, fronted by Papace and including Lea Bingöllü and Isabelle Royet-Journoud, are at their best.

“The Queen Of Hearts” was fully realized and directed by Papace and Vincent Pianina. Blending entirely modern sounds with experimental “found” sounds and an unquestionable predilection toward historic French classical music, Ödland is poised to give us their first full-length, Ottocento this spring.

Ödland, The Queen of Hearts. from Lorenzo Papace on Vimeo.

Five teaser videos so far; Ödland just won’t quit. Their debut EP The Caterpillar blended experimental French classical music with pop, and their pending debut LP, Ottocento, promises more of the same. Ottocento is slated for a Spring 2009 2010 release and if it’s half as creative as these promotional videos, we’re all in for a sizable treat.

Creative, yes. They’re also quite funny. I’ve included the first five below; there will be more so head over to Lorenzo Papace’s Vimeo page frequently for updates. Papace is the mastermind behind Ödland, and his female vocal counterpart is the lovely French actress Alizée Bingöllü. Check out the videos below and grab the title track from The Caterpillar while you’re at it.

Ödland: The Caterpillar [mp3]

Ödland Ottocento, teaser #1 from Lorenzo Papace on Vimeo.

Ödland Ottocento, teaser #2 from Lorenzo Papace on Vimeo.

Ottocento, teaser #3 from Lorenzo Papace on Vimeo.

Ödland Ottocento, teaser #4 from Lorenzo Papace on Vimeo.

Ödland Ottocento, teaser #5 from Lorenzo Papace on Vimeo.

The Caterpilar by Ödland is a concoction of classically-trained pianist Lorenzo Papace of Lyon, France. Vocals (very likely through influence by French masters like Serge Gainsbourg) are contributed from actress and enchantress Alizée Bingöllü. Isabelle Royet-Journoud can be found on ukulele and environmental sounds, and Léa Bingöllü provides stringed accompaniment in the form of violin. These four individuals are Ödland, a French folk/classical group whose music is beautifully peaceful and unmistakably original.

The sound Ödland creates hints at a greater influence, one dating back a few centuries. Gainsbourg can be heard in the vocals of songs like title track “The Caterpillar” and its successor “Les Yeux de L’Oiseau”. But Ödland quickly takes a different approach in “La Chanson du Parasite”, giving the vocals added harmony as opposed to the more poetic wordsmith so evident in the first two songs. Likewise, the instrumentation is fuller; Papace’s piano even has the sound of a well-tuned 19th Century piece, a trait that follows throughout The Caterpillar.

As The Caterpillar continues, it looses the minimalism found in the first few tracks. “Sur les Murs de Ma Chambre” has the most impressive melody on the EP, while closing track “Mathilde Rossignol” forays into a very 1950s style musical-style of folk-pop; you can almost visualize Alizée tap-dancing to select portions of the track. Like the entire Aerotone Records catalog, The Caterpillar is available for free download.

Ödland: Sur les Murs de Ma Chambre [mp3]

Aerotone Records [Digital EP, 2009]

1. The Caterpillar
2. Les Yeux de L’Oiseau
3. La Chanson du Parasite
4. Sur les Murs de Ma Chambre
5. Mathilde Rossignol