Prologue

Description

Cutting the label that scratches the skin is the first gesture to make for anyone treating themselves to a beautiful garment. For Laurent Bardainne, shopping began in 2001 and allowed him to explore all styles without skin irritation, from Poni Hoax (the best French rock band of his generation) to Limousine (5 albums of cinematic jazz between 2005 and 2023), passing through Lost (with Camélia Jordana) and Tigre d'Eau Douce and its comforting saxophone. Twenty-five years of clothes piling up in this wardrobe of a thousand colors, but there was still room on an empty shelf for a solo project, under his own name: this is accomplished with this Prologue EP where Laurent Bardainne signs with Heavenly Sweetness a summary of all his previous musical journeys. Need a label, really? Okay, it's pop. Like its iconoclastic and delightfully deviant cover signed by one of the young figures in comics, Salomé Lahoche, who shares a taste for sidestepping, fertile trouble, and joyfully blurred boundaries. If some still have difficulty following the saxophonist and keyboardist's journey, let's say that it has been a quarter of a century since the Frenchman born in Fougères has been searching for beauty wherever it hides. After having turned over almost all the big stones of rock and jazz, the time has come for synthesis: "I wanted to take a break from exploring jazz," he explains, "I wanted to mix for the first time all the things I've done since my beginnings, namely Poni Hoax, Limousine, and Tigre d'Eau Douce." The result is a sunny EP composed of unexpected (re)discoveries. Because unlike Gérard Manset, Laurent Bardainne does not like to travel alone. For this new discographic step recorded in Belleville at Fred Soulard's studio, we find Pupajim (Stand High Patrol) and the formidable Mélissa Weikart on vocals, "a virtuoso jazz musician discovered at a festival, who doesn't like labels too much, both a fan of indie, free jazz, and uk garage." And on instruments, it's nothing less than the entire ensemble of Poni Hoax musicians. A first for Vincent Taeger, Nicolas Villebrun, and Arnaud Roulin; all reunited for the first time since the death of Nicolas Ker in 2021: "When we met in the studio for the recording of This is your song, we all understood that this song was dedicated to him," Bardainne testifies, moved. But even so, and even if the musical telepathy remains intact among all the band members, this new EP is anything but a Poni Hoax bis repetita. You can hear as much the vocal influences of Suzanne Vega as those of LCD Soundsystem in the electronic treatments or even Sonic Youth, for the rock-pop blend. Again, a refusal to choose. Designed as the introduction to an upcoming musical show, between love and horror, this Prologue EP turns all the knobs of pop that make the knees snap. A treat for the rhythm section of the musicians, all trained at the Conservatory, and who perfectly complement Mélissa Weikart's soaring vocals on the obvious single This is your song, not to mention Finest in town, a sort of enchanting country anthem that breaks down the last barriers weakly erected by the last guardians of the temple: "I have always refused to be stuck in a musical straitjacket," explains Bardainne, "and the tastes of the public are also much less stereotyped than before." So forget this idea that pop, rock, and jazz are playing at the hotel with their backs turned; these first five songs sound almost like a manifesto for openness, curiosity, and rediscovered innocence. "To choose is to renounce," says the proverb. A bet once again 100% winning for Laurent Bardainne and which should quickly allow this XXL-sized project to find its way to the stage and radio, just like 20 years ago with the first eponymous single from Poni Hoax.