Swan Songs

Chocolate Genius Inc.

Swan Songs

Sale price12,50 €
Sold out

Release CD SKU: NOF16

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Mark Anthony Thompson, alias Chocolate Genius Inc., n’appartient pas franchement au commun des songwriters. Son parcours, depuis plus de vingt ans, alterne fulgurants coups d’éclat et longues périodes d’éclipse. Ses talents de musicien passe-murailles, trop épris de liberté pour intégrer les rangs du rock, de la soul, du folk ou du jazz, suscitent l’admiration de ses pairs.
De Marc Ribot à David Byrne en passant par Philip Glass et Oren Bloedow (Elysian Fields), la crème de la communauté musicale newyorkaise lui voue ainsi un respect inconditionnel, tandis que quelques fameux électrons libres français comme Vincent Segal ou Seb Martel ne tarissent pas d’éloges à son sujet…

Et pourtant : dans les médias influents et le grand public, il n’est pas encore reconnu à sa juste valeur. Après cinq années de silence, Swansongs, son quatrième album, devrait radicalement changer la donne. Avec ce disque en état de grâce, cristallisant sous une forme singulièrement harmonieuse tous les talents de son auteur, l’Américain ne peut qu’être projeté en pleine lumière et accéder enfin à la renommée qu’il mérite.

Portant les méditations d’un homme parvenu au mitan de son existence, Swansongs sonde les eaux troubles de l’introspection, du souvenir et du deuil. Chocolate Genius Inc. y livre une somme sonore et poétique qui atteint la beauté décantée d’une épure. Un condensé sublimé de toutes les qualités d’écriture, de jeu et d’interprétation qu’il aura su dévoiler dès son premier album.

Composé pour l’essentiel de ballades, Swansongs s’inscrit selon lui comme la suite et la fin logiques d’un triptyque éminemment personnel entamé avec Black Music et Godmusic. La thématique générale de l’album, vibrant chant d’adieu à des êtres chers, des lieux et des choses qui ont marqué la première moitié de sa vie, l’a naturellement conduit à tirer la quintessence de son écriture. Neuf jours dans un studio de Los Angeles lui auront suffi pour graver ces onze chansons empreintes d’une sagesse à la fois sereine et douloureuse, reposant sur le constat que toute existence se construit aussi sur la perte, l’absence, le commerce avec les fantômes. Loin de Manhattan et de ses habituels complices (seul Marc Ribot se fend d’une apparition sur Enough For/Of You), Thompson, porté par des partenaires de passage au diapason, atteint une forme de gravité en apesanteur qui sied idéalement à son propos.
Sa plume et son chant volent ici d’un prodige à un autre. Du blues réverbéré d’Enough For/Of You aux étreintes piano-voix de Like a Nurse et Sit & Spin, des divagations tortueuses de Lump aux envolées salvatrices de When I Lay You Down et Ready Now, des confessions charnelles de Kiss me aux paroles spectrales de Mr. Wonderful (où la voix du père disparu se fond dans un halo électronique), tout est ici suspendu au fil d’une inspiration affranchie des contraintes de style ou de genre.

Ces dernières années, Chocolate Genius Inc. s’est beaucoup illustré dans les domaines du sound design et des musiques de film ou pour le théâtre ; il a aussi vécu une expérience intense en intégrant en 2006 la caravane du Seeger Sessions Tour de Bruce Springsteen. C’est sans doute là, entre ces deux pôles apparemment éloignés, entre l’aventure sonore et l’écriture traditionnelle, entre la pure recherche plastique et l’exploration des tréfonds de l’âme humaine, que se niche la beauté si peu banale de Swansongs.

Et quelque chose nous dit que, pour Chocolate Genius Inc., cet équilibre ne marque pas seulement un magnifique achèvement, mais aussi une forme de renaissance riche en promesses.

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