Paris by Alpines

Paris by Alpines



We
were in Paris, playing at David Lynch’s club ‘Silencio,’ and
had a day to explore the city and take photos. I knew that
photographing Paris was like trying to cover a Beyonce track;
something you should perhaps avoid, as you could never better what
the likes of Henri-Cartier Bresson and Robert Doisneau have
achieved before you. So I decided to steer clear of taking shots of
famous landmarks and instead chose to capture fleeting moments and
strange corners of the city.

There is something about Paris that makes you want to
philosophise, perhaps this is part of the romance. For a city, the
streets are quite calm, and you can wander at peace and discover
fragments of the city on your own terms. One particular piece of
street art I found was a quote accompanied by what looked like a
Jacob Epstein drawing: “The ‘system of patterns’ traps us all, we
think we are making decisions based on free will…But we are
mistaken.” The artist captures the mind of passersby and encourages
them to think.

Later that afternoon we met up with my good friend Cyrus
Mahboubian, who is a photographer and captured a couple of the
images in this diary. He found a square called ‘Hotel de Sully,’
which is hidden behind two secret doors at the end of an arcade.
The square was majestic and had an ancient tree growing high up in
the corner, which contrasted with the staggering Parisian
architecture.

Our show that night was an incredible if not slightly surreal
experience. Everyone was attentive when we played, until the very
end when we forced people to dance. The real Lynchian moment came
after we performed, when the toweringly beautiful Arielle Dombasle
sang along with Philippe Katerine – both French icons. The crowd
went wild and ignored the signs asking for no filming or
photography. I followed suit and took my own photo of Arielle
performing.

Alpines will be playing live on Wednesday in London, Oslo
Hackney

@alpinesmusic |
alpines.ffm

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