Music and videos by Simon Klein
Simon Klein’s musical influences include Syd Barrett to Dark Side of the Moon era Pink Floyd, with a clear love for the Beatles, and a touch of Canterbury scene whimsy. His own voice is that of an Englishman with a taste for Gallic pop.
Jazz and 20th century classical records are piled high in his painting studio but he wouldn’t dare claim their influence on his ‘only Rock ‘n’ Roll’.
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Simon Klein's music is available on Spotify
Four Songs from 'Will you Marry Me'
Gare du Nord Records
Four animated videos by Simon Klein celebrating the release of his new album Will You Marry Me featuring pleasing slices of contemporary pop-tinged memorabilia released through Gare du Nord Records on 17 July 2026.
Several years in the making, this collection of songs by acclaimed painter Simon Klein is finally out - an album-length love letter to his wife, Françoise, and testament to their enduring partnership - it's quite literally a labour of love. Delivered with an exquisite balance of tenderness and humour, the record is helmed by producer Patrick Wood, whose production and playing seamlessly blend a robust soft-prog punch with a delicate, atmospheric fragility. Throughout the record, disarming and open verses effortlessly give way to super-melodic, double-tracked choruses. The album’s rich arrangements feature multi-instrumentalist Ben Reed and jazz saxophonist Tim Whitehead, whose instrumental contributions help shape the late-night Canterbury Scene mood. This beautifully intersects with Klein's vocals, which hint at the mannered pop delivery of The King of Luxembourg or the psych-folk charm of Mark Fry. Celebrating their 46 years of marriage, Klein uses his songwriting to paint a vivid, intimate portrait of the woman who has shaped these decades of shared history - where deep love, intense desire, and the quiet possibility of loss are found tucked within the ordinary realities of everyday home life.
WIll You Marry Me
First up, Will you Marry Me, a musical love letter to Françoise, Simon’s wife of 46 years.
Don't Leave Me Alone
Don’t Leave Me Alone, recorded and produced by Patrick Wood. Featuring Tim Whitehead on saxophone.
Get Out of Jail Free
Get Out of Jail Free is the second single from Simon’s album Will You Marry Me.
Cat
Cat was the first single from Will You Marry Me.
Gare du Nord Records was started in 2013 by Papernut Cambridge, Robert Rotifer and Ralegh Long as a vehicle to release their three respective albums that year under the “umbrella” of a label name. Since that time Gare du Nord has grown into a larger collective operation with a range of interconnected artists and friends using the mechanism of the label to release their own music on their own terms.
sunny misty puppet train
Sunny Misty Morning
Early mornings broached by love and the dust of rock ‘n roll.
On a sunny misty morning Songbirds in the trees, Singing sha la la la la la lee ...
Painting Puppet
Painting Puppet, the title song from Simon’s Monkclub Records album, features Ben Reed, Tom Mapes and Sarah Klein.
The album premiered on 30 March 2011 at the opening of Simon’s exhibition ‘Simon Klein: Music, Film and Art’ at The Penny School Gallery, Kingston College, Kingston upon Thames.The Painting Puppet video took 6 months to complete, editing 5 hrs of footage at 80 times original speed to fit Puppet’s 3 minute 7 second running time.
Puppet produced and performed by Simon Klein, Tom Mapes and Ben Reed Backing vocals Sarah Klein Recorded by Tom Mapes at Stone Dog Studios
Train
Film shot in 2010 on a journey to Terezín, the Czech Republic. Train was written by Simon Klein and recorded and produced with Ben Reed and Tom Mapes with Sarah Klein on backing vocals.
The verse to this song was written after translations of my grandmother Augusta's letters to my father, written prior to her internment in Terezin, were made by my late uncle, Hans Klein, who survived Terezin. The chorus "Was she there on the train?"" describes my father's possible thoughts, a refugee in England, as he waited to find that his mother, Augusta, had not survived.