Elvis Costello unveils French-speaking EP La Face de Pendule à Coucou, featuring Iggy Pop

Singer/songwriter Elvis Costello performing

(Image credit: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for SeriousFun Children's Network)

British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello has released a new EP containing French versions of songs from his 2020 album Hey Clockface. Titled La Face de Pendule à Coucou, the EP includes the track No Flag (en Français), sung by Iggy Pop.

When asked about the difficulties of singing in a language that's not his native tongue, Iggy Pop said: “There’s a uniqueness to the French language. No other language has vowels that sound like that. Learning a song that’s as quick as No Flag took a month of practice because my lips weren’t used to those combinations.

"I [worked on it] for 40 minutes a day for about five weeks. You don’t want to do too much work on it at once or it’s not fun anymore."

On top of Pop, the record features collaborators such as Steve Nieve, alongside various Parisian artists including Tshegue, Isabelle Adjiani, and AJUQ.

La Face de Pendule à Coucou was shared digitally March 26, and is to be released on vinyl this summer via Concord Records.

Costello has also shared the French-adapted lyric video for the track Hetty O’Hara Confidential, which you can listen to below.

Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.