Courseval have taken a piece of purely electronic music and moved it back roughly a thousand years. The French group, who work in the style known as bardcore, have released their arrangement of Daft Punk's Veridis Quo, with a performance video filmed at the Chateau de Martinvast in Normandy.
The choice of song is not arbitrary. Veridis Quo comes from Discovery, the 2001 album that made Daft Punk a global act, and it was already the most medieval-adjacent thing on the record: the production is dark and the keyboard line sounds like it is being played on a haunted organ, which is halfway to a cloister before anyone picks up a lute.
The arrangement follows that logic. EDM.com describes a version built on woodwind and flowing, organic playing, with a lute where the dance rhythm used to be. What that leaves is the melody, and the point of bardcore is that a good melody survives being stripped of its era.
The location does a lot of work. The Chateau de Martinvast is a historic estate and public garden in the Cotentin region of Normandy, and filming a performance there rather than against a green screen is what separates this from the thousands of bardcore videos that sit on YouTube with a static image.
The group have been at this for about a year. Since starting their YouTube channel they have taken on Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, Harry Styles' As It Was and Rihanna's Umbrella, which is a run of songs chosen for melodies strong enough to carry the translation.
Covering a French act is a first for them in one sense. Daft Punk are among the most influential musicians their country has produced, and a French group reworking a French duo's song at a French chateau is a neater piece of framing than most novelty covers manage.
EDM.com filed the release under music releases rather than as a curiosity, which is a small editorial judgement worth noting: bardcore has been treated as a meme genre since it surfaced, and a trade outlet covering it as a release is a different posture.
No licensing detail was reported, and nothing was said about whether the cover belongs to a wider set of reworkings. Our electronic coverage of the Daft Punk catalogue includes Thomas Bangalter calling his Tron: Legacy score depressing, and cover projects have been busy elsewhere, including Meshell Ndegeocello taking on the Human League with Cat Power. New releases land on the release calendar.
The facts
- Courseval have released a medieval-style version of Daft Punk's Veridis Quo.
- The French group work in the bardcore style.
- A performance video was filmed at the Chateau de Martinvast in Normandy.
- Veridis Quo comes from the 2001 Daft Punk album Discovery.
- The arrangement uses woodwind and a lute in place of the dance rhythm.
- Courseval started their YouTube channel about a year ago.
- Earlier covers include Pink Pony Club, I Will Survive and Umbrella.
- No licensing detail or wider release was reported.
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