Anyone who has followed David Ivar’s songwriting over the past 15 years will know the Herman Dune leader is uncompromising: he likes vintage sounds, classic harmonies, to write troubadour confessionals. As for post production: slapping on digital effects has all the attraction of a has-been caking on mascara and concealer.

As he says, speaking to The Guide, “I guess if you are working with me in a technical way it must be difficult, especially for mixing because I have lots of opinions. I listen to jazz and soul music and I’m always trying to get sound that doesn’t exist anymore.”

When he writes, he does so alone in his Paris flat. There is a guitar and a microphone and a bed. He makes cheap home recordings then rents a studio to add drums to the mix before holing up with a professional to finish things off.

On the road his tools are an acoustic guitar and harmonica. His boots make the beats.

That he’s paired with French electronic producer and label boss Pierre-Alexandre Busson, who releases as DJ Yuksek and has recently launched an independent label called Partyfine from his base in Reims, is quite a turn.

It’s not the most surprising story behind Ivar’s new record, though, which is also his first as Black Yaya.

After penning a soundtrack for the movie Mariage à Mendoza – a comedy about two French brothers on a road trip in Argentina for a wedding, released in January – he began to work on new solo material with the film’s sound engineer, Anton Gallet.

He’d worked with Gallet before so, when the engineer disappeared with a hard drive and the songs’ first mixes, Ivar was shocked and, understandably, frustrated.

“He just vanished. I don’t know where he is. He disappeared with everything. I felt terrible. I had worked on those songs for a month.”

Gallet usually works with people who are more famous than Ivar, he adds.

“I thought, ‘God, that’s cool he wants to work with me’. Then people from labels started to be interested and I started getting mail from people who wanted to listen. I thought things were going too well for a dark album; then he flees with the hard drive and my songs.”

He pauses. “I don’t like to think about it that much.”

Ivar had been having dark feelings and anger even before Gallet fled. The thoughts relate to other events in his life. “I honestly can’t talk about it. I think facts can cast a shadow over the music.”

So he’d begun to write a batch of songs about retribution, violence, murder.

“They were personal but also referenced violent acts and things that are not part of my life at all, which is different from Herman Dune. We are a duo, so I started writing more songs about violent acts and I thought maybe I’m going to record them myself and have them put together as a whole different project.”

When Gallet disappeared, a friend suggested Ivar give Yuksek a try.

“I knew he wasn’t going to be thinking 1990s, like someone remixing U2 or Tori Amos, or cutting up my voice. I knew he was into songs. I knew he liked the way I wrote and the way I sang.

“I also knew he could read and write music, which is key. I like harmonies and chords and I knew he was going to know which notes to put in which chord.”

Still, it’s a party vibe, with squelching bass and programmed drums, polished into a soulful 1970s sound that makes breeezy lead-off single Paint A Smile On Me and its B-side Glad Tidings sound almost, er, groovy.

“He asked me what modern sounds I like. I said Dr Dre and Beck but I don’t know how they get that sound. A week after that he comes up with that mix for Paint A Smile On Me. It sounds a lot better than what I was working on with Anton. So I almost feel like it was meant to be this way. I would have never thought to give songs to an electronic musician before.”

Criminal minds

Long-term Herman Dune fans might want to know what the future holds for the two-piece cult Ivar heads with Cosmic Néman, who has been touring with his other project, Zombie Zombie, in light of the Black Yaya news.

“Is it a break? I don’t know if you call it a break. He is my best friend. We have been in different countries. When I play with him it’s always Herman Dune, but maybe as an official tour we will have to wait.”

The other demand on Ivar’s time fits with his current predicament. He’s been asked to write songs for a new Bonnie and Clyde film to mark the 80th anniversary of the duo’s demise. He’ll be out in Texas shortly to add his songs to the soundtrack of the independent movie directed by Thomas Salva and Olivier Lambert.

“I was writing all those introspective songs for Black Yaya then I get a call from one of the directors saying we’re working on a Bonnie and Clyde movie. I said, ‘Hey, I’ve just written 20 songs about violence and retribution’. He said, ‘Perfect, now you’ve gotta write 20 more.”