What a great name for a single. Just the mere mention of Monte Carlo conjures up all kinds of yacht owning, bling-filled, sexy images, which was the intention of Lund (Southern Sweden) – based band Langhorns, I’m sure.
They say it was “written with inspiration from a film that was never filmed.” I’m thinking of those that were and which were set there. A couple of Bond films for starters – Never Say Never Again and GoldenEye.
I’ve a feeling that the Jackal passed through it from Italy in the original Day of the Jackal, on his way to trying to off General De Gaulle in Paris. Indeed the car Langhorns use in their imagery for this song look just like the sports car he used.
There have been a few comedies, too. The original Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was set in Beaumont sur Mer, for which read Monte Carlo, while irrepressible British TV comedians Morecambe & Wise made it their base in their full length film, That Riviera Touch.
Musically, the retro 1960s sound in ‘Monte Carlo Confidenziale’, which hangs onto a phenomenal Shadows-like bass line as if for dear life, and with a hint even of spaghetti western in it, certainly has the imprint of a daring-do film theme. Perhaps an episode of the 1970s UK TV favourite Man in a Suitcase, in which the unassuming ex-CIA agent McGill takes an assignment protecting an heiress in her Monte Carlo pad from unwanted suitors.
There are so many ideas that emanate from this song it is hard to know where to stop. And it transports you instantly to an era that many readers regrettably will not have experienced and where clinical musical perfection mixed easily with stirring instrumental renditions.
It took my mind back a few years too, to an early track from Icelandic songstress Soffía (Björg), ‘I lie’, which has a very similar retro feel to it.
‘Monte Carlo Confidenziale’ marks Langhorns’30th anniversary in the business and is billed as both a tribute to the band’s history and a glimpse of the future.
Bring it on!
(Continues after the Spotify link)
Band Members:
Michael Sellers, guitar
Martin Berglund, bass
Rikard Swärdh, drums
Erik Wesser, keyboards
Find them on:
Website: https://www.langhorns.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Langhorns
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/langhorns_the_band
Bandcamp: https://langhorns.bandcamp.com/
