C’est un fait : on a vieilli. Balladur n’est plus cette folle irruption pop née du chaudron noise français qui foudroyait tout le monde au mitan des 10’s, non : le duo a baroudé, joué dans toutes les fosses du territoire, écumé toutes les départementales en 205, pour le meilleur et pour le pire.
Si les deux loubards parlent encore le langage des belles chansons et des emprunts mondialisés, on n’a pourtant jamais entendu d’eux un disque aussi “doom” que celui qui vous arrive aujourd’hui.
Les 9 pistes de “Pourquoi certains arbres sont si grands” se retrouvent hantées par la nostalgie des espoirs, des jours heureux et un goût de cendre àquoiboniste très unique. Est-ce cette passion italienne 70's ? Est-ce la frontalité sidérante du texte ? Ce goût obsessionnel pour le clair obscur ? L'omniprésence de synthés demoniaques en trame de fond ?
Ce qui est curieux, c’est que c’est en tant que “groupe de Cold Wave” qu’avait émergé Balladur en 2013. Et que c’est 10 ans plus tard, après s'être affranchi de toutes les étiquettes pré-machées, qu’ils livrent leur disque le plus dur, habité et terrassant.
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It's a fact: we've aged. Balladur is no longer the crazy pop irruption born of the French noise cauldron that struck everyone in the mid-'10s, no: the duo has been around, playing in every pit in the land, scouring every départementale in 205, for better or for worse.
While the two daredevils still speak the language of beautiful songs and globalized borrowings, we've never heard a record from them as "doom" as the one you get today.
The 9 tracks of "Pourquoi certains arbres sont si grands" are haunted by the nostalgia of hopes, happy days and a very unique àquoiboniste taste of ash. Is it that 70's Italian passion? Is it the staggering frontality of the text? The obsessive taste for chiaroscuro? The omnipresence of demonic synths in the background?
What's curious is that it was as a "Cold Wave band" that Balladur emerged in 2013. And that it is 10 years later, after having freed themselves from all pre-machined labels, that they deliver their hardest record, inhabited and earth-shattering.
credits
released September 29, 2023
Written by Balladur between 2019 and 2022.
Recording & Mixing by Balladur and Anotine Nouel at Sound Love, Lyon and at the Citadelle Raspail in Saint-Etienne, during the year 2022.
supported by 5 fans who also own “Pourquoi certains arbres sont si grands”
Gotta admit, the cover was what pulled me in. The music kept me listening. Really brings the early-80’s Cold Wave feel... Several tracks on here I could imagine being some lost singles from 1982. Brian Parker
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