Composer, guitarist and singer Dave 1 really enjoyed the last Grammy awards ceremony. “This evening was the absolute validation of the title of our new album! » The sixth album in almost twenty years of career of the electro-funk-pop duo Chromeo, which he forms with P-Thugg, bears the title ofAdult Contemporary, in reference to consensual and commercial radio sound. “We had the most “adult” Grammys I’ve seen,” he explains. Today, all we’re talking about is Tracy Chapman in a Prada blouse. Annie Lennox, everyone was talking about her performance! Even Miley Cyrus dressed up as Dolly Parton or Cher, she was acting like an adult. And Céline… It was a celebration of adults! »
“I interpret that as validation of our choice of title,” says Dave 1. “We’ve been revealing the title of the album to those around us for months, and each time people find the expression hilarious, because of this Michael Bublé side. But at the same time, there’s a celebration of adulthood and maturity in the songs on the album that I think was praised at the Grammys last Sunday. Even Billie Eilish gave a grown-up performance with her soft piano song. »
It would be surprising if Chromeo’s coming of age pushed him towards soft songs served simply on the piano, as Eilish did in front of the cameras and the elite of the American music industry, but we will still note a certain simplicity in the sound ofAdult Contemporary.
After two maximalist electro-funk albums with rich orchestrations, Dave 1 and P-Thugg have somehow returned to the essence of their terribly catchy funk, pop and electronic sound. “We consciously removed layers of varnish to expose ourselves more,” explains the musician. There’s something about the sound of this album that takes us back to our beginnings, to Pat’s mom’s basement [P-Thugg] in Brossard. It’s more raw, just like in the texts. Something honest and intimate” which even ends with Two of Us (Friendsnlovers, Pt. 2)“a kind of ballad sung by Pat at the talkboxsomething we haven’t done for a long time.”
This sound is a direct consequence of our pandemic years, during which Chromeo did useful work by launching the mini-album Quarantine Casanovaa hilarious collection of funk songs exploring the complexity of romantic relationships during confinement and distancing that Dave 1 even describes as a humorous album.
“It’s a question of survival, this project. Lots of people told us that it put them in a good mood during these difficult times and, humbly, that’s a bit like our job: to put people in a good mood with slightly sunny music, which relaxes the atmosphere. in people’s lives, since life is complicated sometimes. »
The experience of the pandemic fueled the inspiration leading to the creation ofAdult Contemporary, in which romantic relationships are observed from a remarkably different angle, but always with that typical Chromeo humor. “I’ve been in a relationship for six years, and now engaged,” confides Dave 1. “Forties change us, with the ailments, existential and bodily — it’s funny, forties are like a second puberty, sometimes ! »
“However, during this entire pandemic, Pat and I were always together in the studio. It pushed us towards this intimacy that we recognize on the album. We had no choice in being together, since that’s how we got through the confinements. All of this pushed us to close the circle to design this album, without soliciting collaborators,” except for friend La Roux, whom the duo had invited on stage during their performance at Coachella in 2023 and who sings a duet on Replacementsone of the highlights of the album with our favorites Got It Good, Lost and Found And Personal Effects. “That’s why, this choice of cover: only in the studio, with this slightly erotic wink that we always find in our universe. Us in the studio, our cocoon sexy. »
“Building bridges”
Despite the pandemic behind us, life has not become simpler; Luckily, we have a new Chromeo album to distract us for a while. “We are experiencing two wars, the extreme right is popping up everywhere… It’s crazy these days. It’s a difficult time to go through, with all this tension, this polarization of opinions. We sometimes express ourselves on this. » “We”, it is Patrick Gemayel and him, David Macklovitch, a Quebecer making a career in the United States, the first having Palestinian roots, those of the second being Jewish, who sealed an unfailing friendship at a very young age.
“Afterwards, we don’t sing [sur le sujet du conflit israélo-palestinien], but the fact that everyone knows our origins and that we are inseparable, it reminds us that this kind of problem has been our whole life. We’ve been talking about this for twenty years, we’ve been living with these questions for twenty years. It also defines us as adults. »
All that matters, says David Macklovitch philosophically, “is dialogue. It’s about building bridges, trying to understand the ins and outs that led to the crisis in which the world finds itself. Because launching messages and slogans is cuteit’s okay if you’re doing your baccalaureate in political science, but that’s not it [qui mène à des solutions concrètes]. Our concerns are historical, sociopolitical, sectarian with regard to Lebanon, a country balkanized into small communities. We must work to build bridges, to maintain channels of communication between two cultures which ultimately have more in common than we imagine. This, from the beginning, has been the spark of friendship between Pat and me.”