Michel Houellebecq is preparing to return to the stage in an unexpected form. The writer, in collaboration with composer Frédéric Lo, will present "Souvenez-vous de l'homme" (Remember the Man), a musical creation based on an album released on March 6, starting April 8th at La Scala Paris. Ten performances are scheduled until May 7th at the venue in the 10th arrondissement.
The project brings together twelve texts written and recited by the author of The Elementary Particles, accompanied by minimalist, electronic, and melancholic music. At the crossroads of recital, concert, and musical reading, the work extends a vein that Michel Houellebecq has been exploring for several years, far removed from his image solely as a novelist.
A stage performance blending spoken poetry and electronic soundscapes
With Frédéric Lo, a musician and producer who has collaborated with artists such as Bill Pritchard and Peter Doherty, Houellebecq constructs a stripped-down universe made of drum machines, piano, and repetitive motifs. The result is less about traditional song than sound installation, with spoken word placed at the forefront and an almost hypnotic atmosphere.
The album, composed of twelve tracks, features original lyrics that once again explore the writer's recurring themes: the wear and tear of the contemporary world, solitude, memory, desire, and more broadly, the fate of humanity. Some tracks are also linked to his recently published collection of poems, Combat toujours perdre (Always a Losing Battle).
Michel Houellebecq, a discreet but long-standing musical career
This return to the stage didn't come out of nowhere. Since the 1990s, Michel Houellebecq has regularly recorded his own texts set to music, in short formats akin to spoken-word pieces. He had already published Présence humaine in 2000, and has since made numerous forays into this genre, with a very distinctive way of speaking his words rather than singing them.
With Souvenez-vous de l'homme, this musical dimension takes on a new dimension thanks to a true duo performance. The planned residency at La Scala Paris should allow this material to be brought to life in public, in a performance that promises to be as austere, strange, and captivating as the world of its creator.
