[engl] Parisian Night Suit is Jeroen Reek’s vehicle for self-producing, songwriting and composing, exploring the outer realms of blue-eyed soul, yacht rock, vintage funk, exotica and electronic pop. The project sprung somewhat incidentally; Reek was noodling around with a Rhodes piano borrowed from a friend, with the intent of writing material for his longtime band Iguana Death Cult. But as he started to experiment with it further, it sparked a chain of musical ideas that didn’t necessarily fit within the songwriting dynamics of Iguana. The moniker Parisian Night Suit, by the way, is the reference to the infamous scene from Freaks and Geeks, in which the character Sam rocks the titular garment, much to the ridicule of high school bullies and jocks. “That’s why it fits this project well,” Reek explains. “Because Sam wears it to be really cool, but the result is quite the opposite. I want to make really cool music, but I’m actually a bit of a dilettante.” The songs he crafted in his home studio’s are a delightful case of ‘not quite’ either, adrift inside the unexplored territories of Reek’s pet influences: the translucent soul of Allen Toussaint, the quirky city pop of Haruomi Hosono, the beguiling croon of Bryan Ferry. “Droplets” is a sad trombone soul ballad that meditates on how feeling rock bottom also means a new beginning. Reek: “At one point I sing this slightly dark line ‘Greet death with a smile/I’ve been waiting for you’. It’s a song that seeks a sense of comfort in your own misery.” Furthermore, the sweeping & suspenseful funk noir of “Who’s Got The Money?” is a true floor filling anthem of acidic discontent. “I’m always trying to tackle serious subject matter with a glint of humor,” says Reek. “I enjoy it whenever songs maintain a bit of ambiguity, something to keep things both light and mysterious. I’m not some tortured artist carrying the weight of the world. I feel everything as intensely as the next person, but I’m always trying to highlight the absurdity of it all.”