French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sebastien Tellier is about to embark on a 13-date North American tour in continued support of his 2008 album Sexuality. The album, produced by Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, is part of what has been a very busy twelve-month period for Tellier.

Around this time last year, a song from Sexuality titled ‘Divine’ (which you can preview below) was selected as the French entry in the Eurovision Song Contest — an annual competition wherein the winner performs a track on live television. Before he was able to perform, Tellier became embroiled in a scandal dubbed Eurovisiongate (‘Divine’ is sung almost entirely in English — a major faux pas in France). Tellier later attempted to re-record the song, but admitted, “‘Divine’ is better in English. I went to the studio to try and make a French version. It was not good, so I just kept two sentences, just a wink to the French people.”

Not content to leave the controversy behind, Tellier performed ‘Divine’ with a set of look-alike backup singers — including a number of bearded women — and at one point inhaled helium from a beach ball to change the register of his voice. It was a gleeful moment in an otherwise gaudy competition and showcased Tellier perfectly as an artist from the Gainsbourg school of playful irreverence. Despite the fact that Tellier placed 19th of 25, The Times described ‘Divine’ as the best Eurovision entry since Abba’s ‘Waterloo’ took the top prize in 1974. That’s actually a compliment in case you were wondering.

The tour gets underway tonight at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City (with Lemonade and DJ Ol’Stark) and concludes with an appearance at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in California.

Sebastien Tellier – “Divine”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.