Beyries and Maxime Le Flaguais | Beautiful two-headed beast

Fire in the lilacs, it’s much more than the title of Beyries’ third album singing the texts of actor Maxime Le Flaguais. It is a story of friendship, trust and abandonment, which is reflected in the depth and truth of the outcome.

In this unique collaboration, Amélie Beyries departed from her role as author for the first time in her career. However, she feels like she is revealing herself more than ever.

“Before, I hid a lot, I sang in English… and that suited me! When we started rehearsing, I said to myself: OK, man, it’s stock. I will have to be all in. Not that I wasn’t before, but there really is something very sincere and intimate about it. »

Amélie to the composition and interpretation, Maxime to the writing: the summary is true, but simplistic, since their work is much more linked, as if, together, they formed a single person.

“We have become like a two-headed monster!” », exclaims Maxime Le Flaguais during a joint interview where the two friends, who have known each other since adolescence, recount memories and anecdotes, and hint at a mutual admiration.

A very beautiful beast all the same, but the image works. For example, even if all the texts are signed by Maxime, the singer was involved in the writing process from start to finish.

Each song is thus the result of numerous walks and discussions, so that Maxime’s very personal words also become those of Beyries, and she adds her caressing melodies. These “fertile exchanges” nourish both the author and the composer.

“And the interpreter too!” adds Beyries. If there’s one thing I’m all about on this album, it’s that. There are even two songs that I didn’t compose, like Behind the day, [dans laquelle] I find myself a simple interpreter. Which is quite rare for me. »

This required an immense amount of letting go, because once again, their work was completely intertwined. Like the majority of authors, Maxime Le Flaguais could have left the texts in the hands of the singer and withdrawn. The actor has rather become a kind of director giving him very precise instructions for interpretation.

Together, they found the balance between rigorous acting direction and her singing instinct. “I wanted to interpret them at their best, without distorting myself. I think what you hear on the album is the care we put into it. »

To be able to create in this way as a team and in harmony, it was necessary to leave egos in the locker room, believes Beyries, who had already sung texts by Maxime Le Flaguais on his first two albums, including I will be a hundred years oldwhich was a huge success.

“As we have known each other for a really long time, we have a trust that few people have,” says Beyries, who also specifies that she does not write “with anyone else”. His friend is well aware of this. “I was super lucky that she was less comfortable writing in French. It opened a door for me that I would never have had in my life! » Even that of the studio, where he was able to participate in all the recording sessions.

Praise of slowness

Fire in the lilacs speaks of love, desire, consolation, the preciousness of time. “It’s a bit of a quilt,” Beyries explains. Each song has its story: some were written over years, others in a single day, around themes established between them.

There were also surprises, like when Maxime’s father, the actor Michel Côté, who was being treated at the hospital, discovered while cleaning his emails a text from his son written nine years ago…

“When he sent it to us, I was just trying to write a song about death, but I couldn’t go there. Everything that came out was cliché. But I had been able to do it nine years earlier, I don’t even know why! It was prophetic as a text. »

Lighthouse, which closes the album, is a moving song that reaches straight to the plexus, particularly when the choirs join in with Beyries’ consoling voice. “Ah yes, huh? We both had the idea of ​​the choir,” says Maxime, who still can’t believe this immense gift his father gave him.

The two artists agreed well on the musical direction to take, with a team of great sensitivity at their side: Joseph Marchand on guitar, the Frenchman Albin de la Simone on keyboards, Robbie Kuster (Patrick Watson) on battery.

The result is an almost spiritual and very assumed slowness, which reflects the inner rhythm of both of them, assures Maxime Le Flaguais. “We don’t do punk!” I was at 15-16 years old, I no longer have the energy for that. »

“We both love the joy of contemplation,” says Beyries, who “needs” slowness in his life. “The more I slow down, the happier I am. »

But what she was especially looking for as a common thread was intimacy, gentleness and sincerity, both in the lyrics and in the stripped-down musical packaging. Lifted by the string arrangements, delicately accompanied by the piano and synths of Albin de la Simone, the interiority raised by the harp of Éveline Grégoire-Rousseau or the doudouk of Hraïr Hratchian, the songs leave plenty of room for the voice, incredibly present and unfiltered, of Beyries.

In such destitution, every word carries all its weight. Beyries says, amused, that before, she didn’t care much whether people understood or not what she was saying in her songs. “But for Max, meaning is important! » So this is another layer of protection that she had to remove. “It was an exercise in being so exposed. »

Maxime Le Flaguais is impressed by the abandon shown by his friend. Used to being in front of the camera, the actor admits that he too had to let go. “I’m more in the shadows, but she has the generosity to give me a little light,” he says, affirming that he couldn’t be happier. “I have often said that I am most proud of I will be a hundred years old that of my six seasons Beautiful stories. So, imagine a complete album! »

It’s obvious, this isn’t their last collaboration. “We have plenty of things to explore!” », says Beyries, who will soon hit the road with his new songs.

What does she want from this album? “I like works that make you think. There’s so much music coming out, in this highway of intensity and speed. This beautiful being needs a soft space to live, and that’s what I wish for him. »

Song

Fire in the lilacs

Beyries

Audiogram