A synth line from a 2022 UTO track, now sung in Spanish with French-Colombian artist Ëda Diaz, with layered vocals replacing the original instrumental textures. Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains, reworked “Art & Life” by Émile Papandréou into “Arte & Vida”, keeping the electronic framework but adding Latin rhythmic patterns and a different vocal arrangement. The track appears on Halage, released on 3 April via InFiné.
The project began in Bristol in 2005 when Frànçois Marry moved there from Saintes in south-west France. He put a hand-drawn notice in his window looking for collaborators and became part of the city’s independent music scene. The project released early albums on Talitres and Fence Records before Marry became the first French artist signed to Domino in 2011. The line-up has changed across nearly a dozen releases, with Marry writing songs and arranging them with rotating musicians. After Banane Bleue in 2021, a synth-led album made with Finnish producer Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Marry moved to InFiné and released Âge Fleuve in February 2025.
Halage arrives just over a year later. The title refers to pulling boats from the riverbank, moving against the current with collective effort. Recorded partly on the Péniche Adélaïde, a barge moored on the Seine in Paris, and partly at Le Château Vert, the album shifts towards heavier electronic production. Papandréou from UTO worked on the sessions alongside Marry, with Laura Sanchez on bass and backing vocals. “Arte & Vida” brings synth textures, programmed beats and call-and-response vocals between Marry and Diaz.
Other tracks on Halage include “Essaie Maintenant,” built around a tense drum machine, and “Rappelle-Toi,” which features French pop singer Clara Luciani and reworks a track from Âge Fleuve. Lebanese singer Yasmine Hamdan appears on “L’Homme À La Rivière,” a French reinterpretation of Nick Drake, and guitarist David Numwami plays on “Peaux Miroirs,” produced by Belgian producer Luca Derom.
Listen to “Arte & Vida” featuring Ëda Diaz HERE and stream Halage via THIS LINK