Claude Chabrol’s Les Biches has a plot so indicative of its time and place—France in the late 1960s—that it practically borders on self parody. A bored socialite seduces a female artist, and the two decamp Paris for St. Tropez. There, the affections of a male suitor drives them apart, setting off a chain of events that ends with one woman killing the other. It’s a plot that might have been taken straight from Shakespeare, tweaked into modernity by the lackadaisical way in which the two women come together romantically.
In much the same way, Keith Joyner’s new project of the same name finds him taking a story as old as time—the willingness of the powerful to oppress those under their command—and spikes it with a shiver of modernity. In “Fun For Professionals,” which we’re premiering today, Joyner and Sarah Negahdari sing over vintage synths and wobbling organs that could’ve been pulled from a Stereolab demo, but instead of the smooth burn of that group, we’re instead greeted with a fizzling guitar line that mirrors the regretful tone of Joyner and Negahdari’s singing.
“’Fun For Professionals’ was written during last year’s presidential campaign, when few were taking seriously the candidacy of our orange garish nightmare of a president,” Joyner says. “While the song is not so on the nose as that, it speaks to the notion of those in power treating governance as a game when people’s lives and livelihoods are at stake.”
So, unless you’re one of the business professionals currently in power, maybe not so fun. It’s mournful stuff for a song that feels like it could just as easily be about long-term heartbreak—but then again, maybe it is. Give a listen below.
