Looking at an accordion, it’s hard to imagine how anyone came up with the idea for such an instrument.
I mean, drums I understand. Hitting stuff is fun, so it makes sense to want to make different things to hit just to find out what it sounds like. Flutes make sense too. An early human blows into a bone or a hollow branch, it makes a sound, the rest is history.
But an accordion? How does this concept ever come up organically?
It has to be the result of some kind of misunderstanding; somewhere in 19th-Century France there must have been a mix-up at a hotel where an organization of piano manufacturers booked a conference for a weekend, but then the hotel accidentally double-booked a group of typewriter enthusiasts.
I can imagine the two groups confusedly checking calendars before finally just saying, “what the heck, let’s do a collab.” They drink some wine, grab a piano, a typewriter, the bellows from the fireplace, and some glue, and there you have it. Accordion.
There aren’t too many songs on this list that feature the accordion. The occasional indie weirdos, the occasional French-Canadians, the occasional American trying to sing in French…but this marks the first time that we’ve had a true, born-in-France, master-of-the-craft accordionist, so let’s enjoy it.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. Jean-Louis Matinier is the real accordion deal. And although he could easily shred up this track with some face-melting accordion riffs, he goes instead for mood and beauty.
2. His collaborator, guitarist Kevin Seddiki, adds to the beauty with his classical guitar. I don’t know if the two met thanks to a hotel mix-up, but I kinda hope so.
3. Both musicians are fluent in classical and jazz, and it shows in this song’s unusual – yet not quite dissonant – chord progressions.
Recommended listening activity:
Talking a walk once the rain stops.