• Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard
Biography

“I listened to a song that Maxwell sent me and said to myself, ‘this guy is incredible, I must work with him’,” says Christophe Vaillant who performs as Le SuperHomard.

His latest record, a collaboration with Australian singer Maxwell Farrington, was born from an instantaneous connection the pair felt when they met during a joint concert at La Boule Noire, on the MaMA Festival in 2019. During Farrington’s sound check, he sang an a capella version of a song by Burt Bacharach. This led to an engaging conversation between the two musicians, who discussed their common passion for Sean O’Hagan, Lee Hazlewood and Scott Walker. “Well we can all agree that there’s no seduction more powerful than common taste in music,” says Farrington. “Soon after that gig Christophe asked me to write lyrics for him, which I did obligingly. From there I asked him to arrange one of my songs.”

It was clear the two had a lot in common in terms of taste but musically they soon sparked too, sending things back and forth until the sketching of an album emerged. “I sent off a few demos to Christophe down in the south of France and he just picked out whatever songs he felt were good,” says Farrington. “Christophe has a saying: There are no bad songs, only bad arrangements; and we only had good songs, so it was smooth sailing.”

The result is a seamless collaboration from two people who share a great musical intuition. Marrying Farrington’s rich baritone croon with Vaillant’s deft yet stirring compositions and you’re left with a record that feels like a lost classic. Whilst those influences they initially bonded over are clear on the record, it goes beyond being a simple ode to them. As Le SuperHomard - whose 2019 debut album received great critical praise (“A sparkling debut" 4* - Mojo ) - Vaillant exercised his clear pop chops via dreamy synth grooves and sparkling melodies. Here that craft is equally on display, albeit with a tonal shift towards more orchestral pop, with lush, sweeping strings lifting songs as equally as tender strums of guitar keep them propped up. Combined with Farrington’s endlessly infectious vocals, the pair have landed on something that owes as much to the music’s rich history as it does to contemporary sounds.

Discography
Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard
Window Tax
Album , CD, LP, Digital
TAL138 — 2026

Window Tax, Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard’s third album, was recorded in Margate, a short train ride from London, with Mike Lindsay, co-founder of Tunng (spearhead of the folktronica movement) and holder of the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2009 for his production work on Speech Debelle’s Speech Therapy. The studio doubles as a cabinet of curiosities, crammed with singular and eclectic instruments: Moog Grandmother, Eventide H949 Harmonizer, Teenage Engineering OP-1, Suzuki TES370 Koto synthesizer, bean-filled shaker, castanets and other treasures.

Window Tax: literally, a tax on windows. It could refer to the levy based on the number of doors and windows in buildings. But the title – and the song of the same name – suggests something else: the idea of paying extra at a restaurant for a better view, a seat by the window.

Or: how to enjoy dinner with an admirable view, spend many hours with Lorène, find your way back to the Supermarket, savor fish & chips in very good company. ‘Do da da da…’

  • Window Tax
  • Album , CD, LP, Digital
  • TAL138 — 2026
  • I Had It All
  • Mini-album , CD, LP, Vinyl
  • TAL123 — 2022
  • Once
  • Album , CD, LP, Digital
  • TAL119 — 2021
video
Maxwell Farrington & Le SuperHomard — We, Us the Pharaohs [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
par Talitres