There is no fundamental link between Savarit’s life and his work, which is music. A guitarist of Franco-Iranian origin, he has settled in an area bordering France and Switzerland, proving in his daily life as well as in his songs that there are no borders in music. Let’s talk about Savarit’s music. It is not influenced by any of the three aforementioned countries. No, it has its own musical language. The guitar occupies a primordial place in it, unfolding in all its versatility, weaving its way through a fine arrangement of haunted saxophones and lysergic bass. Reading the tracks on this album, you can tell that the author has a penchant for timeless places. And rightly so, as the project was born during a trip to the United States. “NJ to SF”, “Amour de Tanger”, “Rapallo”, “Arrival at Hopson Plantation”: the toponyms abound. The desire to get away from it all is apparent throughout these tracks, some of which are instrumental, and some of which feature elegant lyrics by Alexis Kacimi, ex-leader of the Rebels of Tijuana and a close friend of Savarit.
Leaving, wandering and travelling are all evoked by the chiming guitars and warm, round bass tones. Concentrate on these six strings, and you’ll feel an urgency in each of the vibrations they produce: the urge to escape, to flee, to renew yourself through movement. And that’s exactly the spirit in which ‘French Riviera’ was born. A project that combines bossa, folk and surf-rock in a spirit free of all dogma, proclaiming once and for all the omnipotence of ‘Art for Art’s sake’.
