Over the course of an incredibly lengthy seven-plus decade long career, acclaimed and pioneering French film score composer Francis Lai (1932-2018)’s work spanned across and meshed several different styles and genres, including orchestral music, jazz, electronic music and avant-garde experimentation.
Throughout his career, Lai displayed an uncanny ability to anticipate technological advancements and developments in music — and to quickly adopt or adapt to them. He was among the first to embrace and incorporate electronic instruments in his compositions and arrangements as soon as they emerged, boldly pushing the boundaries of what film scores sound like. Unsurprisingly, that readiness to boldly push sonic boundaries in his work attracted filmmakers, musicians, the cognoscenti and others interested in forward-thinking work.
Among his dozens of film scores and soundtracks, his compositions for Claude Lelouch‘s films, Un homme et une femme (1966), L’Aventure c’est l’Aventure (1972) and Les Uns et les Autres (1981), as well as David Hamilton’s 1977 film Bilitis and his Golden Globe-winning and Oscar Award-winning score for Arthur Hiller‘s 1970 film Love Story are known globally — with the Love Story score being one of the more popular scores written and recorded. Unsurprisingly, Lai is one of the world’s best-selling film music composers, selling over 130 million records globally.
And although he died back in 2018, the acclaimed French film score composer’s work still remains incredibly popular. After a Paris tribute concert, the Francis Lai Orchestra embarked on a fall 2023 tour across Japan, playing shows in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya — with filmmaker Claude Lelouch attending the Nagoya show.
He has over 3 million followers on Spotify, proving that his work has managed to transcend generations while inspiring a global audience. Recently, his score for Michel Boisrond‘s 1968 film La Leçon Particulière went viral, becoming one of TikTok’s top tracks while amassing over 200 million streams on Spotify and Deezer. And adding to his reach across multiple generations, contemporary artists have remixed and reinterpreted his work.
Play Paul is French touch pioneer, making his debut in the disco house scene in the electronic production duo The Buffalo Bunch, alongside Raw Man back in the 90s. The duo quickly made a name for themselves and the attention of the acclaimed and internationally renowned duo Daft Punk with each member signing them to their respective labels — Thomas Bangalter’s Scratché and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s Crydamoure. Play Paul began to stand out on his own with an attention grabbing remix of Phoenix‘s “If I Ever Feel Better.”
By 2003, Play Paul stepped into the spotlight as a solo artist. And as a solo artist, the French tour pioneer moved towards a more underground and electronic dance music-leaning sound. He released material through prestigious labels like Gigolo Records and Kitsuné while working on remixes and reworkings, furthering establishing himself as a key figure in the global electronic music scene.
Play Paul recently contributed to a remix compilation, paying tribute to Francis Lai and his work Play It Like Francis, which was released earlier this month. His contribution to the compilation saw him tackling a Lai deep cut, Lai’s theme for Claude Lelouch’s 1978 film, Robert et Robert, “Concerto pour la fin d’un amour.”
Anchored around a looping, brooding yet breathtakingly gorgeous piano figure and a swelling string section, Lai’s “Concerto pour la fin d’un amour,” slowly builds up in intensity, evoking classic film scores — and a swooning romanticism. The Play Paul remix, manages to retain the original melody while completely reimagining it, giving it a decidedly 70s disco/glam feel, seemingly inspired by Station to Station-era Bowie. The result is a reworking that sounds as though it could have been released around the time of the original that inspired it, and subtly contemporary.