“I saw the light so I entered”, delivers Grand Corps Malade in the chorus of the opening piece of Reflections, his new album. Fabien Marsaud, that’s his name, tells us where he saw the precious rays: in slam evenings, in love, and in what the world has in store for us. These are so many columns which carry the 12 pieces, so many facets of the Frenchman who is always generous towards the Quebec public. Meeting with the man who is also preparing a film on Charles Aznavour, scheduled to be released in a year.
If we look at your releases since Noon 20in 2006, there is little downtime, Reflections being your eighth full-length record. How does the latter fit into the curriculum?
I don’t worry much about where I am in my career, which is certainly why I do a lot of projects. As the biopic on Aznavour, which I wrote and directed. But in any case, on a musical level, Reflections arrives after two projects where there were a lot of collaborations. There was the album Ladies, an album of duets with women. Then, I made a mini-album with my friends Gaël Faye and Ben Mazué. And so, I came back to an album that was perhaps a little more personal, where it’s all solo.
The “reflections” of the title of the record, can we see them as mirrors of parts of your life?
It’s a reflection of where I am. It is a reflection of our times. At the same time, it is a reflection of the public, as I say on the second piece, Reflections. I have fun wondering who is the mirror of the other. I also have trouble separating the songs from the concert. I can already imagine myself doing them on stage. A certain piece will be very festive, for example, so I will put it at the end of the concert, because it will be a moment of communion.
Musically, the record oscillates between piano arpeggios and more lively rhythms. What guided your choices?
I wrote about music instead. I asked composers to suggest tracks, and in particular Mosimann, who is a very good one, more electro, but who is also a very great melodist. This approach forces me to change my little writing habits, to follow a rhythm. And then also, I am inspired by music, and it also creates desires and themes for me.
Perhaps the title that stands out the most is Self-reflectiona long piece that talks about you over dense, almost rap music.
Now, this one went the other way. First I had the text, and I asked Mosimann to find me some fairly intense music, like the text. This is probably the one that took me the longest to write. It’s a five minute song nonstop, without chorus. I wrote it a bit like a puzzle. I wrote some formulas about my past, about writing, about my family, and so, afterwards, I put the pieces of the puzzle together to make a song. And it was important to have this music, which almost sounds like an emergency.
As we speak of urgency: climate issues find a place on the disc, for example on 2083, where you tell the story of an almost devastated world and where you criticize our leaders. Isn’t that a bit catastrophic?
Well, unfortunately, I tend to follow what the scientists say, obviously. To write it, I didn’t invent anything, I found out, I spoke to specialists. And, unfortunately, what I depict in 2083, there is a good chance that it will really happen like that if we do not change things, if we do not change our mode of consumption today, that is.
You also often go through your past, in particular, by talking about children growing up or the fact that as we get older, we lose track of what is cool.
It’s true that I have a certain nostalgia, a nostalgia that doesn’t stop me from moving forward, that doesn’t weigh down my morale. But afterwards, I prefer to talk about the present.
You precisely offer an ode to the present, It’s happening today. Don’t you find our present a little heavy?
There are things that are very, very hard in our present, just in the news in recent weeks. But at the same time, I think there are also lots of beautiful things. The present is the most important moment, it is the one that we must live to the fullest now, whether for the pleasure of living well, of enjoying, I was going to say, of having fun, or whether to try to have an impact on our environment. Well, that’s it, it’s happening today. We don’t have to wait until tomorrow, it might be too late.