Fontaine Wallace - Le Projet (CD)

"Le Projet c'est que tout reste en désordre"... Fontaine Wallace is back with this chorus punchline, which is both slogan and program.
With their first album (2018), the band was able to continue the magic and unique style of Superflu, Nicolas Falez's former formation, with a vocal timbre still unmistakable, very close and soft. With Fontaine Wallace, the group dynamic is more noticeable: the drums are handled by Ludovic Morillon (Prohibition, Valparaiso, Yann Tiersen...), who has now taken a more prominent place, as well as the skillfully arranged choruses of Cécile Beguery (bass) and Fabrice de Battista (keyboards).
For their second album, Le Projet, the Parisian quartet has written ten new songs that more than confirm the attempt and are undoubtedly among the most mature and moving songs in Nicolas Falez's repertoire. A warm voice, with precise and precious diction, slightly slurred, almost deaf, the complicit voice of a confidant who examines the ordinary with exceptional sharpness, speaking from the heart as others speak from the nose.
The author-narrator never comes to the fore here ("La faiblesse de mes analyses/m'a fait bouffer le noyau/et cracher la cerise"), but early in the album it's clear that the situations are always dealt with with remarkable accuracy and eloquence are described. Falez is unsurpassed in describing the great movements of the world with the small movements of the heart, bringing the universal into dialogue with the intimate ("Au crépuscule de l'homme blanc / est-ce que tu veux encore de moi?" ). There is also a lot about losing (Tu débarques avec la nuit) and getting lost (Dédalus), about hidden treasures and (re)discoveries. It's also about aging, resignation and acceptance, regret and the occasional calming power of memories.
And while several pieces sound like lessons in humility ("Toward the end of the day / All I could do / Was this ridiculous monument", "The most beautiful thing I've done / Was the unnecessary"), they are received Lessons never learned and in this regard the spirit of Leonard Cohen is never far away.
Behind these rainy tales and poetic confessions is a band at the pinnacle of their art, equally at ease in practicing syncopated pop songs (Point Polka) as they are in Lynchian road trips (Fougère). An album in which doubts triumph over certainties, fragility over boasts, and in which instability is tamed rather than subdued.

1. Le project
2. La chanson d'amour cachée
3. Les systems finissants
4. Point Polka
5. Tu debarques avec la nuit
6. Dedalus
7. Sous les radars
8. Prends soin de ton amour
9. Fougere
10. Outre les mots