A collaboration between French composer-arranger Jean-Claude Vannier (best known for his influential orchestration of Serge Gainsbourg’s classic Histoire de Melody Nelson) and Faith No More/Mr. Bungle frontman Mike Patton is something that needed to happen. I think so. The pair met in August of 2011 during the “A Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg” concert held at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Patton—he of the six octave voice—was one of several notable performers—including Beck, Sean Lennon, Zola Jesus, Victoria Legrand of Beach House, Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear and Serge’s son Lulu Gainsbourg—who performed Gainsbourg’s best loved songs while the second half of the show saw a performance of Histoire de Melody Nelson with Vannier conducting the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Cal State Fullerton chorale.

Patton explains:

“We bonded immediately. I could see he had a dedication and attention to detail that was relentless so the respect I had for him in my mind was magnified in person. We spoke loosely about working together in the future… and it took some time, but after a few years I contacted him and we began to ignite some sparks.”

Corpse Flower was recorded with musicians in both Los Angeles (several players associated with Beck and Air) and Paris (including Gong’s Didier Malherbe and Bernard Paganotti of Magma!) Vannier described the process the duo used to create Corpse Flower:

“I would send Mike rough versions of the songs to get his thoughts, then I’d wait impatiently, staring at the clock, until I received his response. He made my music awaken with his unique perspective and interpretations of my songs. A formidable vocalist, with a sense of humor, Mike and I created a strong, beautiful and sincere collection of music, as well as a friendship.”

Here’s some background information about the new video from Corpse Flower from director Nino Del Padre:

“When I first listened to “A Schoolgirl’s Day,” I fell in love with the intense and ominous track. I also knew that coming up with a concept for the video would be challenging as Ipecac gave me full creative control. I spent a few days brainstorming and I had the track on loop while surfing the web for inspiration when I remembered a 1962 low-budget classic, Carnival of Souls. While watching parts of the movie with the song playing, I knew I had something that might work.

After spending some time editing a demo, I realized that this was going to work better than I thought, and I had something special. It’s almost as if the film was created for this song. The plot follows Mary Henry (Candace Hilligoss), a young woman whose life is disturbed after a car accident. The film has been named as a precursor to the works of various filmmakers, including David Lynch, George A. Romero, Lucrecia Martel and James Wan.”

Order Corpse Flower from Ipecac Records or Amazon.