COULEUR BRIQUE (vinyl)

Description

'Couleur Brique', Usé's third album released by Born Bad, opens with a fit of phlegmy coughs plus piano, while a guitar vomits its tracheitis from the back of the hangar. Fans will recognize the "amphéta-amphéta-amphetamine" vibe, telling us about the "head of, the head of, the head of state." We won't know what he had to say to Emmanuel, but there's still a bit left on his pants.In this album, as often with Usé, it's about singing as if you're hitting something. Bashing the snare drum to evoke a crush that bites, scratches, and spits, getting high, getting wasted. But there's a lot of love in these seven songs, which evoke two-flavor beer-and-pill romances that end up in converted vans, deep in the temporary autonomous zone of our asses.We appreciate the melodic effort that continues the work begun in the previous LP, 'Selflic', carried by a few layers of synths, sometimes sour, sometimes clear, and a confident vocal performance. From the aggressive surge of a desperate man at the fairground, to the end of an evening in a dirty pub, it's a beer-in-hand hike, where small flashes of brilliance hit the mark.The sweaty trance achieved is, of course, due to a broken drummer's energy, but it's supported by consistent songwriting throughout the album, which we can sing along to, close together in the wastelands, to fight against the ambient "seum," where he plays himself, wandering his turf. It's in his natural habitat that you have to come and see this great romantic, a beautiful weirdo, who spits on his nipples as he crawls under barriers in front of a sweating audience. You'll have to buy the album if you want the lyrics, because at a concert it's hard to follow when you're busy trying to determine if it's sweat, piss, or alcohol that's serving as the contact surface with your concert neighbor. With Usé, everything is equal: soiled bodies - united bodies, same struggle.Having given up on politics, Nicolas Belvalette is now an actor, in a short film that became long, 'tout fout le camp' (everything's falling apart).A collection of autumn tunes to get comfortable, and fall asleep on the counter with confidence, 'Couleur Brique' sets the stage for memorable future concerts. The sheets are dirty but they've been carefully ironed.