Iggy Pop Preps French Jazz Album

How do you say “now I wanna be your dog” in French?

Rock n’ roll veteran Iggy Pop (who graced our cover two years back) has announced the release of a jazz-influenced album entitled Préliminaires (French for ‘foreplay’). The record, released through EMI France, will hit stores globally on May 18th and in the U.S. on June 2nd.

The inspiration for the project reportedly stemmed from the controversial French novel “The Possibility Of An Island” by novelist Michel Houellebecq. “I recognized a lot of myself in this book,” Iggy said. “It might be because I’m interested in sex, death and the end of the human race. Like Daniel, the book’s protagonist, I too have grown weary of a career as an entertainer and I wish for a new life.”

Produced by Hal Cragin, the new record is said to be full of jazzy overtones and quieter sounds, unlike all of Iggy’s past work. “I just got sick of listening to idiot thugs with guitars banging out crappy music,” Pop reported. “I’ve started listening to a lot of New Orleans-era, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton type of jazz.”

The new album will include covers of the bossa nova standard “How Insensitive” by Antonio Carlos Jobim and also the 1940’s hit “Autumn Leaves” in its original French Language. The latter is a commonly covered song first brought to light in the 1946 film Les Portes de la Nuit.