This week, Jeremy Tuplin released a charming animated video for his song ‘Love Town’ off his latest album Orville’s Discotheque, released on May 20th on Trapped Animal Records.
In Tuplin’s own words, “Orville’s Discotheque” is a ‘disco concept’ album, a ‘loose re-telling of Orpheus and Eurydice but in a disco setting.’
If that sounds strange, the animated video for ‘Love Town’ is even stranger, with Somerset-based artist Tuplin descending in a hot air balloon to a brightly coloured discotheque set in a pink sky and frequented by some very interesting creatures indeed. The seductive ‘Love Town’ song is layered with Tuplin’s languid dreamy croon over this, sensitively drawn, chilled, lounge pop, toe-tapper. Trippy and slightly ridiculous, the video draws you into Tuplin’s bizarre world, surreal and strangely fascinating. Watch it below.
The video was created by Phil Vanderyken, a Belgian musician and artist living in New Orleans. He has created animations for NYC ska legends the Slackers, New Orleans trad jazz band Sabertooth Swing and psychedelic soul band Kaleidoscope Soul.
“Behind all the bravado and bombast there’s a strong sense of fragility to this character – the adage big ego, low self-esteem applies here – and it turned out that having some home recordings at the beginning and towards the end helped stay true to Orville’s personality – an eccentric, lonely synth player making music in his bedroom. I think this also helped suggest an interpretation that this record or at least aspects of the narrative, including his love affair, are merely figments of his overactive imagination. But that’s just an interpretation, perhaps it is all part of the ‘Real World’ he sings of in the opening song, who knows, not me.” – Tuplin
With lyrical musings on romantic love, narcissism, delusion, and obsession – including self-obsession – reality, society, dancing and activities of the night, Orville’s Discotheque may provide escapism through the fantasy disco world it inhabits, but on a human level, it all feels real and relatable enough.
The record, like Tuplin’s earlier albums, was recorded at Marketstall Recording Studio with long-time collaborator Mark Estall as co-producer, and instrumentation contributed by members of Tuplin’s newly named backing band, The Sad And Lonely Disco Band: Jason Ribeiro on drums, Samuel Nicholson on lead guitar, and Estall on bass, and heka (Francesca Brierley) on vocals performing the role of Eugenie. Tuplin contributed to lead vocals, synthesisers and rhythm guitar.
Jeremy Tuplin is an indie singer-songwriter from Somerset. This is his fourth album, following his independently released debut I Dreamt I Was An Astronaut in 2017, Pink Mirror (2019), and Violet Waves (2020) both on Trapped Animal Records.