Annoncé comme le premier single issu du premier album solo de Vîrus, Nycthémère, (après 6 EP, un projet collectif et un livre-disque), Mouton Cadet aborde le thème de l'influence de l'environnement sur l'individu et la difficulté à trouver sa propre voie.

Comme à son habitude, Vîrus y emploie de nombreux jeux de sonorités et de mots, sur une instru d'Al'Tarba, avec lequel il travaille depuis plusieurs années, notamment sur des projets du producteur.

C'est le deuxième morceau de Vîrus dont le titre porte le nom d'une boisson alcoolisée, après Marquis de Florimont en 2015.

Le single est sorti en même temps que son clip, réalisé par Junior Paganelli.

The lyrics for “LA Story” were triggered by real events. The incredibly sad passing of Mac Miller was part of it, and just the amount of other artists who have overdosed in the last few years, primarily from “legal” prescription drugs. It’s a crying shame.

I was also thinking about the YouTube videos when a star shows you round their opulent but minimal LA home. They’re always echoey, 15 of the 16 bedrooms have never been slept in, and the owner can’t seem to locate the fridge.

I can imagine how easy it would be to feel isolated, rattling around in what is essentially a massive show home.

I’m not writing a sob story for the mega rich, it just surprises me how many people who live that lifestyle are lonely and depressed.

The track started from a session with Oscar Arnell. I had some drums looping, he played a guitar line and I got the “Do you remember when the man said, ‘it’s the currency of loneliness’” line. I don’t know who the man is or who he’s talking to but I just liked the sound of it.

As with a lot of my songs I was picturing everything very visually, a huge empty house in the hills, a coke-fuelled car crash, a swimming pool glowing blue in the dark, a lost love from the past, a hotel room in Montreal, an intervention that’s never coming, a soulless industry party.

Once the first verse and half the chorus and the outro bit were done, I got a bit stuck. Second verses are nearly always a bugger to get right and this was no exception!

After a bit of a break from it, I played the song to Jon Cox who really liked it but felt it could all flow more smoothly, so he threw in a load more chords and replayed most of the bass.

We also worked out the second half of the chorus, which I felt had just the right cinematic feel. Plus we managed to get cupcakes in there, which is one of my most enduring memories of staying in LA back in the day :)

For the production I wanted the track to have a smooth, minimal, late-night feel. I stripped the instrumentation back to the bare bones and added layers of atmospherics including some actual LA street noise. After chopping up some of Oscar’s Spanish-sounding guitar parts and sprinkling lots of weird little samples throughout the track, that was pretty much it.

I spent a long time recording and re-recording vocals for this one. The tone had to be right, the timing had to be really tight but also feel laid back, not forced. Plus there was loads of layers of harmonies and random backing vocals.

It can be a total head-f*ck choosing and editing your own vocals – you can end up going round in demented circles, losing all perspective.

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There isn’t much of a story behind this song! I can’t remember if there was anything in particular that sparked me to write it, or much about the recording process.

It’s weird, I think at the time it was one of my favourites on the album, but when I listen now I don’t think it’s stood the test of time as well as the rest and it leaves me a bit non-plussed.

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