After an advanced listen, Sébastien Tellier’s Kiss The Beast feels like a carefully curated return to his most seductive instincts, while still pushing into stranger, more modern territory. Set for release this Friday, January 30, 2026 via Because Music, the album moves fluidly between intimate synth pop, disco flash, and moments of unsettling beauty, all held together by Tellier’s unmistakable sense of atmosphere. It plays like a waking dream, sometimes comforting, sometimes disorienting, but always deliberate.

The opening title track, “Kiss the Beast,” eases listeners in with steady, woven synths and a pleasant electronic disco pulse. Heavily autotuned vocals float above the production, marking a shift from Tellier’s familiar whisper croon and setting a relaxed, dreamy tone for what follows. That sense of contrast becomes a recurring theme across the record. Tracks like “Naïf de Coeur” and “Parfum Diamant” lean into tenderness and nostalgia, evoking adolescent memories and soft romantic imagery, while “Refresh” introduces an addictive 80s inspired beat, vocoder-heavy vocals, and a lyrical focus on reinvention.

The album’s more extroverted moments arrive with “Thrill of the Night,” a high energy disco cut that channels Studio 54 excess. Featuring Slayyyter and Nile Rodgers on guitar, it is unapologetically built for the dancefloor, yet still carries Tellier’s refined touch. Elsewhere, he embraces unpredictability. “Loup” begins with classical guitar and French lyrics before descending into a chaotic midsection that catches you off guard, eventually resolving in manic synth runs, choir-like vocals, and an urgent electro finale.

One of the album’s most striking moments comes with “Amnesia,” the final preview track featuring Kid Cudi. It opens uneasily, built on a repeating instrumental figure that shifts constantly, from sparse rhythms to tense drum patterns, before strings swell and Tellier’s vocals arrive in a dreamy French verse. Cudi’s presence feels natural rather than forced, drifting between ethereal rap and introspection over hypnotic grooves and hazy piano. As Tellier explains, the song explores emotional dependence and vulnerability, and that theme resonates throughout the album. As one moment on Kiss The Beast makes clear, this is an artist comfortable sitting with contradiction: “It feels like an album about letting yourself be lost for a while, trusting that confusion can be just as meaningful as clarity.”

From Paris to London, Kiss The Beast brings together an impressive list of collaborators including Oscar Holter, SebastiAn, Victor Le Masne, and Daniel Stricker, with Owen Pallett’s strings adding cinematic weight. Anchored by appearances from Kid Cudi, Slayyyter, and Nile Rodgers, the record ultimately plays as an extravagant love letter to pop music itself, both intimate and universal. With Tellier also announcing a 2026 tour across France and Europe, some dates already sold out, Kiss The Beast arrives not just as a new chapter, but as a confident statement from an artist fully embracing his dualities.

It feels like an album about letting yourself be lost for a while, trusting that confusion can be just as meaningful as clarity.

Sebastien Tellier - Kiss The Beast Album Tracklist:

1. Kiss the Beast

2. Naïf de Coeur

3. Refresh

4. Mouton

5. Thrill of the Night (feat. Slayyyter & Nile Rodgers)

6. Romantic

7. Parfum Diamant

8. Copycat

9. Animale

10. Amnesia (feat. Kid Cudi)

11. Loup

12. Un Dimanche en Famille

Sébastien Tellier on tour: 

2.26 - Rouen, FR @ Le 106 (sold out)

2.28 - Geneve, FR @ L’Alhambra (sold out)

3.5 - Nancy, FR @ L’Autre Canal

3.6 - Lille, FR @ L’Aéronef (sold out)

3.10 - Bruxelles, BE @ Cirque Royal

3.12 - Marseille, FR @  Le Cepac Silo

3.13 - Nimes, FR @ Paloma

3.14 - Toulouse, FR @ Le Bikini (sold out)

3.16 - Paris, FR @ L’Olympia (sold out)

3.17 - Paris, FR @ L’Olympia (sold out)

3.19 - Reims, FR @ La Cartonnerie

3.20 - Dijon, FR @ La Vapeur

3.21 - Strasbourg, FR @ La Briqueterie

3.23 - London, UK @ Koko

3.25 - Bordeaux, FR @ Le Rocher De Palmer (sold out)

3.26 - Rennes, FR @ Le Mem

3.27 - Nantes, FR @ Stereolux (sold out)

3.30 - Berlin, DE @ Theater Des Westens

6.5 - Paris, FR @ WE LOVE GREEN Festival

Author: Andrew Braithwaite

Andrew is the founder and chief editor of Music Talkers. He's also a keen music enthusiast and plays the guitar.