Synopsis
YACHT's video for "Le Goudron" places the duo inside a stark, club-like visual space, where intense strobe lighting fractures their movements into flashes and silhouettes. Claire Evans and Jona Bechtolt appear amid a fast, pulsating sequence of performance images, matching the song's transformation from avant-garde chanson into a hard-edged electronic dance track. The minimal setting and disorienting edits create a deliberately artificial, almost apocalyptic atmosphere, turning the performance into a neon-lit ritual rather than a conventional narrative.
Factoids & Trivia
- "Le Goudron" is YACHT's electronic reworking of a song first recorded by Brigitte Fontaine in 1969 with the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
- The video was released online in April 2012, alongside the song's release through DFA Records.
- Contemporary coverage described the clip as dominated by strobe effects, a visual approach that reinforces the track's repetitive synth pulse and dancefloor energy.
- YACHT framed the cover as an attempt to honor Fontaine's surrealist and "naive-apocalyptic" writing while moving the song into a neon-soaked club setting.
- The lyrics remain in French. That choice was especially natural for YACHT because vocalist Claire Evans grew up speaking French.
- The release appeared in more than one video context. The official clip is distinct from YACHT's "Off the Avenue" performance, a studio session in which the band performed the song live for Consequence of Sound and North Avenue Studios.
- The recording later appeared in the soundtrack context of Paolo Sorrentino's film "Loro", helping bring YACHT's version to an audience beyond the band's usual electronic and indie-pop circles.