Miossec bares itself in its twelfth album, “Simplifier”

Miossec is an author, composer, performer and lyricist. his album Drink, released in 1995 with Guillaume Jouan and Bruno Leroux at his side, is considered one of the innovative and founding albums of the New Wave of French song. The French public definitely adopted him with his third album, Learn, which he does not like and which he even considers inaudible. The Brestois, determined and in love with words, rhymes and music, has since released the albums burns (2001), The embrace (2006), ordinary songs (2011), Down here, right here (2014), Mammals (2016) or even The survivors (2017).

Friday, February 17 released the twelfth album of Miossec, Simplify. He will also be in concert as on March 18 in Morlaix or April 9 in Rennes.

franceinfo: Simplify is an album that you have built one-on-one with yourself. Why this title?

Miossec: Because it was the verb that fell on me when I was making this record. And in fact, that was really it, it was simplified. I made this record alone at first then afterwards I recorded my guitars and my basses with Paul Le Galle and Alexis Delong, who mixed and also produced the record.

It’s a solar, sunny album. The title that opens this album is called Everything is blue. You say that : “Everything is blue when the black goes, even if there is always a little left. It is not seen“. Does that mean that there has been a path traveled to do you good, that the upturn has arrived?

The lyrics are not always autobiographical, but there, it’s true that there was this energy that was there, like an energy of the territory since the whole record was made in North Finistère, with Finisterians and a Nantes resident. I don’t think we can dissociate ourselves from the place where we grew up, the place that made us and especially the character trait. I’m really from North Finistère and not from South Finistère and that’s very important.

But the fact of finding yourself in front of yourself, of having this “loneliness”, is it important too? Is it a creative process for you?

Well, it’s actually fabulous. We will seek our happiness or bliss. Finally, it’s a bit crazy as a profession, to spend a lot of time, a lot of nights, a lot of days alone with yourself, your instruments, your paper, these are great times that you can have in life because it’s a luxury.

“I have known the world of work, so I know that free time is an absolutely incredible luxury.”

This time you occupy it precisely to write, to tell your stories. Have you ever sunk?

Oh yes ! Fortunately ! Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fun. What I mean is that it’s a job that is still sporty because there are ups and downs. For me, it has always been fairly constant, but never on top either, which is more practical in my position and still quite comfortable in this job.

You sing adolescence with a smile that is very nostalgic. So indeed, not everything is autobiographical, but there is a strong emotion that emerges from this song: “Adolescence does not fly away, does not come off like a thorn in the finger, even when it has been hidden deep inside“. Was it a wish to hide this adolescence deep inside you?

I have the chance to do a job as an eternal teenager. When I’m alone with my instruments, I feel like I’m going back to my teenage room. And then, it’s a profession that is not like the others in the sense that on tour, you don’t worry about shopping, knowing where you sleep. It’s still a profession where there is a lot of regression.

How were you, teenager?

Rather responsible because my parents left me really free. I went to Turkey at 16 with the Magic Bus, well, it was stuff from another era. And then I had a music group, which also makes you responsible because we were serious despite everything. We had moved on to TransMusicales, to Children of Rockthings like that, but I stopped everything after 19 years.

Adolescence built you?

Yes, then having a crazy freedom, to tell the truth, thanks to my parents, I was able to experience a lot of things as a teenager.

Isn’t this freedom what defines you the most?

It’s such a chance to make music. Massacre it by doing anything, by trying to become bigger than we are or to be there only for radio passages or sales figures, it would still be a little sad. We only have one life and it passes very quickly.

This album is very positive. We feel that there has been a click, that you are well, that you feel good. What does this album represent? Simplify ?

“That album was really important because I don’t think I have a whole lot of records left for me to do. So if I missed that one, it smelled bad for the sequel.”

He was really important for what I still have to do as a job. Then the fact of having really composed, written on my own, of having had this solitude, this luxury, suddenly, if it was to do something mediocre on release, it would have been a bit sad .

Finally, how do you view your career path? Are you happy with what you managed to accomplish?

Oh, I don’t know. I can’t be satisfied because there are records that have been made that I find so superior to mine that I rather worship something else.

Eternally dissatisfied with his work!

But so much the better, so much the better.

Miossec will be in concert: March 18, 2023 in Morlaix, 25 in Laval, April 9 in Rennes, 21 in Cluses and August 6 in Paimpol.