Posted by World-building French aesthete Requin Chagrin pushes deep into the unconsciousness.
True dream pop, her visionary songwriting matches flowing, nebulous melody to lyrics that spark conversations, words that disguise and illuminate at every turn.
Third album ‘BYE BYE BABY’ is the work of an artist in full flow, someone who is supremely confident in their abilities.
Out now, it’s a gorgeous listen, yet it’s also packed full of complex trickery – as ever, nothing is as it seems with Requin Chagrin.
Clash invited the French artist to break her new album down, track by track…
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‘Première Vague’
What immediately comes to the fore is the desire for a wall of sound, something more massive and solid. This energy, despite the strangeness of the track’s structure, made me think of a wave. Even without knowing where to go, we should dive in, always.
‘Déjà Vu’
The inspiration came to me with a little Casio MT400v synthesizer that was lent to me and that I adore. I wanted to talk about stars, especially the Perséids, the time around the 15th of August when there are lots of shooting stars. It is the moment to make wishes, to start over.
‘Nuit’
This track was composed by Rémi Parson in the emptiness and heat of the 15th of August and it oscillates between hope and darkness. It is a form of cold wave that werewolves might well like…
‘Bye Bye Baby’
This song was born late July, around the time of the 20th anniversary of the Concorde crash. Here, I return to what’s important: the acoustics of a guitar. The title track talks about emancipation, escaping from a dull and formulaic life and embracing adventure, all while accepting ourselves. It is a very personal track.
‘Juno’
It is an ode to the Roland synthesizer. The rhythm is a tribute to Cocteau Twins, the bass that sets the tone, a memory that won’t stop coming back to you… The feeling that gets under your skin.
‘Fou’
I went round in circles with my guitar until I unearthed a basic Yamaha organ, whose sounds are very beautiful… Four chords, no more. I wanted to use something simple to talk about the non-reciprocity of feelings.
‘Volage’
I wanted to make quite a tense track, to program a rhythm box with cold timbres. “J’ai toujours en moi une sorte de manège” (“There is always a kind of merry-go-round within me”): these words were the starting point for the lyrics which evolve around this confusion of thoughts, of identity, of the way we see ourselves.
‘Love’
Slowness, dreams, and an opening riff added just in time. “A 100,000 à l’heure j’ai brisé ton coeur” (“At 100,000 miles per hour I broke your heart”): these words reinforce the idea of speed, almost brutality, throughout the track.
‘Perséides’
Dominated by guitars, it summons a traditional garage psych tune but nevertheless shimmers with a magical keyboard. The association of the two makes me think of the constellation, the contemplation of stars… Hence the title of ‘Perséids’!
‘Roi du Silence’
It is a guitar-vocal blend with a Velvet Underground influence, to which I added drums, bass and synthesizer… The lyrics came to me as I sang, and revolve around the passage into sleep, the night, and someone who buries himself in his silence. Move along people, there’s nothing to see here!
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‘BYE BYE BABY’ is out now.
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