Adam Cohen’s ‘divide and conquer’ strategy

An intriguing double bill will be showing up in Canada this summer. Headlining will be the new Los Angeles-based pop-rock band the Low Millions, whose single “Eleanor” is starting to pick up radio play ahead of the October release of the band’s debut album. And opening will be a French-language crooner named Adam Cohen, whose album “Melancolista” is a rising hit in Quebec.

What makes the pairing so interesting is that the singer and primary songwriter of the Low Millions is ... Adam Cohen.

The real twist to this is that Cohen, who seemed to have no career in music after a 1998 solo album for Columbia Records flopped, now has two. And no one is more surprised than Cohen.

“It’s quite a resurrection,” says the singer, 31, who is the son of singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen and was raised in Montreal, Paris and Los Angeles. “Simply put, I had abandoned my English-language project. I had put together demos that were unable to generate the enthusiasm we’d hoped for. In doing so, I immersed myself in working on my French material, thinking that if I wasn’t going to be an internationally loved pop star, I could at least be a regional French entity -- a local cheese, if you will.”

Last year, Cohen was signed by Capitol Records’ Canadian branch based on his French material but was surprised when label representatives asked if he had any English material. He played them some of those songs and they liked it enough to call Bruce Lundvall, CEO of U.S. sister labels Blue Note and Manhattan Records. Lundvall invited Cohen to audition for him and Manhattan executives Arif Mardin and Ian Ralfini, and 15 minutes into that solo acoustic performance at the company’s New York headquarters, Cohen was offered a deal.

While the French album is steeped in the styles of the late Serge Gainsbourg, the Low Millions’ debut album, “Ex Girlfriends,” is more in the vein of contemporary rock, with production showing the influence of U2 and a songwriting sense compatible with such current acts as Maroon 5, with which the band shares management.

Might there be any identity crisis in trying to establish both the Low Millions and Adam Cohen simultaneously? Manhattan general manager Ralfini, who earlier in his career signed the Faces when Rod Stewart was both in that band and a solo artist, sees no problem here.

“The Low Millions is where he really wants to go forward,

and we can separate the two things,” Ralfini says. “It would have been confusing to have our record as Adam Cohen, and the Canadians will have to work both at the same time. But I’m working the Low Millions, a new band, and the lead singer, by the way, is Adam Cohen.”

As for serving as his own opening act, Cohen is amused.

“That was a joke I made,” he says. “I proposed it one day and everybody laughed and then paused -- and appeared to be computing something. For the management to discuss that with you as a reality is delightful. I definitely have my targets set quite high. If this increases the odds of people actually catching the work I’m responsible for, hallelujah.”

A handsome new business model

It’s BEEN FIVE YEARS since producers Dan “The Automator” Nakamura and Prince Paul collaborated on an album under the name Handsome Boy Modeling School, but they’ve still got the shtick down as they finish a long-overdue follow-up.

Inspired by an episode of Chris Elliot’s satirical TV series “Get a Life” and using the pseudonyms Nathaniel Merriweather and Chest Rockwell, respectively, the two are presenting “White People’s Album” (due Nov. 9) as the product of a variety of other artists coming to them for “makeovers” into supermodels.

“We try to work with the trends -- change things one person at a time,” says Nakamura, whose many credits include serving as co-founder and producer of the “cartoon” band Gorillaz. “With this particular record we’ve tried to do some way more elaborate makeovers with people.”

It’s not far from the truth. Rockers Linkin Park and Deftones singer Chino are each put on tracks featuring adventurous hip-hop styles, alt-rock songstress Cat Power is given an almost trip-hop spin, Alex Kapranos (singer of hot Scottish band Franz Ferdinand) is matched on a song with reggae veteran Barrington Levy and rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien, and Hall & Oates’ John Oates is teamed with rising English jazz-popster Jamie Cullen.

Others on the album range from mellow surfer dude Jack Johnson to rapper RZA (collaborating with the band Mars Volta) to turntablist Kid Koala.

The lineup is evidence that though the first album wasn’t a huge seller, it was a cult hit, both for musical invention and humor in various linking skits, a combination continued here, with “Saturday Night Live” star Tim Meadows on board.

But ask the producers why these artists wanted to work with them and their characters kick in.

“We had to turn people away,” says Nakamura.

“It’s the ongoing quest of looking good and feeling great,” says Paul, whose productions range from De La Soul (which is also on this album) to his own freewheeling albums. “It’s like getting into Studio 54 back in the ‘70s. We had to look out there -- ‘You’re good. You’re good. The rest of you come back and try next year.’ ”