Ici-bas, ici même

Description

There’s no need to read the stars or coffee grounds to know that Miossec has signed his best record to date. Ici-bas, Ici même is a record made at home in northern Finistère. No demos. And as a trio. With Albin de la Simone and Jean-Baptiste Brunhes. Hence this feeling of brightness, calm, even tranquility, that emanates from Ici-bas, Ici même. The marimba notes, the guitar and piano chords and the voice, never before heard so clear, soft and composed, were recorded in three sessions of three days and three nights, facing the sea, a few kilometers from Brest. “On vient à peine de commencer,” the first of the eleven songs, focuses on the essentials. On life. On death. On the passing of time and the right to a second chance. “Le coeur” rests on a supple, airy melody. That is what stands out on this new Miossec. The songs breathe. At full lungs. So much so that, closing your eyes, you find yourself among the musicians and their instruments. Across the eleven compositions, honesty seeps through every word. Every phrase. Every breath. Whether on “Bête, comme j’étais avant” (co-written with friend Stephan Eicher) or on “Le plaisir, les poisons,” where we gladly find the citizen behind the singer, echoing this dog’s age of total disillusionment. Ici-bas, Ici même could not have ended with anything other than the lucid and falsely detached “Des touristes” and its celestial, airy backing vocals. Which simply makes us want to listen again to what is not far from being a masterpiece. Again and again. Almost until we can’t take any more! In the end, Ici-bas, Ici même turns out to be quite simply a formidable record of (great) songs.