Wes Anderson teams up with Jarvis Cocker for an album of French pop covers

Jarvis Cocker is set to release a new album in collaboration with Wes Anderson, as a companion to the director’s upcoming film The French Dispatch.

Embodying the spirit of the long-delayed film — “a love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional 20th-century French city” — the record, titled Chansons d’Ennui Tip-Top, will consist of French pop classics from the era, performed by Cocker and his band, JARV IS.

If you’ve rewatched the first trailer for The French Dispatch a few times in anticipation of its release, then you’ll likely be familiar with a snippet of the musician’s featured cover of Christophe’s 1965 track “Aline”, released in full earlier this week (listen below).

The song features on the Chansons d’Ennui Tip-Top tracklist alongside music by Serge Gainsbourg, Brigitte Bardot, Marie LaFôret, Jacques Dutronc, and more. In a statement, the record is described as “a tribute to French pop music and a musical extension of The French Dispatch”.

Jarvis Cocker has previously contributed a track to the animated Wes Anderson film Fantastic Mr Fox. Frequent Anderson collaborator Alexandre Desplat, meanwhile, returns to compose the official soundtrack for his latest feature film. 

Both musical accompaniments will be released alongside the film itself, which is set to finally hit cinemas on October 22, following its July premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Listen to Cocker’s cover of “Aline” below.