Joel Sarakula produces and performs Soulful Pop songs with Soft-Rock and Disco influences. Inspired by a rich 1970s aesthetic, he gazes out at the world coolly through his vintage glasses and filters the sounds that inspire him for a colder, contemporary age
He introduces his new Disco-oriented single and video “Parisian Woman” by explaining "I've always had this terribly clichéd fantasy about living an artist's life in Paris and meeting the Parisian woman of my dreams... so I decided to turn my fantasy into a song.” In “Parisian Woman”, Joel (pronounced Joël as he wryly points out) fully indulges his Francophile fantasies. He has the boldness to rhyme Champs-Élysées with Jean-Paul Gautier and dreams up their glamorous lifestyle by commenting: “If she was my Deneuve then you could say that I was her Truffaut.”
This lyric is propelled along by a funky disco beat, referencing and reinventing the best of French House (bien sûr). Joel explains: “I'm a massive fan of French touch - I grew up listening and dancing to these songs in nightclubs ... halfway across the world from France in Sydney!”. Who knows, perhaps Joel's fantasies will finally come full circle and people will soon be dancing to his “Parisian Woman” in nightclubs in Paris ... and Sydney.
Joel Sarakula has travelled the world in search of his muse, experiencing everything from being a victim of Caribbean carjackings to performing in the remote fishing villages of Norway, via the dive bars of Europe and the US. It was the hodge-podge musical tapestry of England’s capital that finally drew him to a settling point, in the wake of seemingly never ending run of shows. With personal tastes that span from the more avant-garde to soul and pop greats like Sly Stone, Todd Rundgren and Hall & Oates, there are clear nods to contemporaries like Erlend Oye and Toro Y Moi in terms of ambition and style.
Sarakula is a regular on the club and festival circuit in the UK and Europe and he has previously performed SXSW, Primavera, The Great Escape, Tallinn Music Week and Reeperbahn Festival.