🟪 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐘 🟪

💔“…𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏…”💔

🟪One of the most heartbreaking moments on the album, 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐘 has already become – surprisingly or not – an obvious festival hit.
Alongside three other singles from 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨, it’s been included into the setlists of almost all concerts so far. Although, I suppose, it sounded a bit differently in the atmosphere of the very first intimate shows and in front of the huge crowds at the festival stages.

Above, I’m sharing a video from 𝐓𝐖 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐅𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐥 in 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐮𝐦 where Placebo played last Saturday, on June 25th (watch it to the very end💥

🟪When explaining where the lyrics, full of genuine grief and despair, come from, 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 mostly goes two directions. He speaks of someone who lost their loved ones to murder, particularly, to police brutality keeping in mind events which led to the Black Lives Matter movement. Another, more personal meaning, is connected to David Bowie’s passing which left Brian enormously devastated back in the day and definitely still influences him.
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𝑪𝒂𝒏 𝑰 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚 𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: I don’t write songs dedicated to other people, but if I did, this song would be dedicated to someone who had their true love killed. It was inspired by the murders of black people by the police in the United States, something we were already aware of several years before the death of George Floyd.
Then the song became more abstract for me, based more upon my current relationship with David Bowie: his spirit, his influence on me as a person and his constant guidance.
(𝑅𝑢𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑀𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑛.362, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 2022)
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𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬: […] 𝑰'𝒎 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚 𝒏𝒐𝒘. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎! 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎?
📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Well, I think from two places: first David Bowie's passing which obviously had a major major impact on me. It was at that point that I actually began to reflect on how much I had been influenced as a human being by David. There's a lot about David which taught me to be a better human. To me Happy Birthday In The Sky...I have to kind of in order to get inside a song I kind of I create a narrative that's, that's my own, and I create characters, and what I did in this one is that I tried to put myself in the shoes of somebody who lost a loved one to police brutality. So it was a mixture of Bowie's passing and what was happening in the news.
(𝐵𝐵𝐶 6 𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜, 𝐼𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑏𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝐻𝑎𝑤𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑠, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 15𝑡ℎ, 2022)
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David Bowie’s death on January 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday and the release of final studio album Blackstar, certainly left its mark on the members of Placebo. The aching Happy Birthday In The Sky, while not exclusively about that particular loss, pays tribute to those whose birthdays we continue to mark even after they have passed, as 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 does with his late hero. “It communicates that kind of heartbreak,” he explains. “That sense of loss. That sense of desperation. It’s as if a part of your body and soul has been ripped from you unfairly. And you pine – and you pine.”
(𝐾𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 23, 2022)
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Photo credit: Scarlet Page

🟪However, let me delicately guess that there might be much more personal background to the lyrics, especially remembering the self-explanatory line from Chemtrails, “My friends and relatives are gone / And I need a little time”.
We will never know whose passing was (also) breakiing Brian’s heart when he wrote Happy Birthday In The Sky, who he remembers of every time while performing the song on stage… And there’s no need to search for those answers🙏
It’s just an absolutely natural human thing… Too many of us can think of those to whom we wish a happy birthday in the sky every single year… and will probably do that to the end of our lives…💔
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𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚 is a beautiful celebration of the ghosts that accompany us. “It’s a line I use for people who have passed away. I wish them a happy birthday in heaven. 𝑴𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅. And if we had managed to convey some of that sense of tragedy, the more the better, it means 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆.”
(𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑦𝑙𝑒 𝑒𝑡 𝐴𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑜, #12 𝑀𝑎𝑦-𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 2022)
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🟪Previously, 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 often admitted that it was extremely exhausting for him to communicate such difficult emotions to the audience. In the recent interviews, it was exactly 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐊𝐘 that made him start honestly talking about it again. Being immensely attached to the song himself, he needs to bring the wholeness of powerful feeling to the listeners.

Photo credit: Jokko & Rob Walbers 

“𝑨𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔.”
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📢𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧: Happy Birthday In The Sky for me, is one of the more heartbreaking moments on the album. Happy Birthday In The Sky is a phrase that I've been using, you know, for quite some time. When I say, happy birthday to people who aren't with us anymore, you know, like David Bowie, for example, and it communicates the kind of heartbreak that we're really, really good at communicating, I think, you know, that that sense of loss, that sense of desperation. It's as if a part of your body and your soul has been ripped from you unfairly. And you pine and you pine and you wait.
I have a certain amount of drama training, you know, from Goldsmiths College, which is sort of the method, you know, so that it tells you to act from the inside out. So you start with really, really personal things and you externalise them. That’s how I manage to kind of communicate this emotion. I think truthfully and honestly to an audience, by somewhat inhabiting that feeling by putting myself in that position when it's performed and feeling the heartbreak. Concerts that come across as mechanical are ones where I find myself unable to do that, to inhabit the emotion within the song. I do that a lot during performance and put I put myself in the shoes of the narrator emotionally, which can be really draining and I think a lot of people don't understand why I wouldn't want to go to an after show party or I wouldn't want to go to a discotheque after the show when all I want is some food and to collapse, because I've basically given everything I can emotionally and there's nothing left. I'm just an empty shell. You kind of inhabit these difficult emotions 12, 13, 15, 20 times a night.
What I am thinking is that this is kind of so visceral and so intense emotionally that it's really going to communicate something very powerful to the listener. And that's basically all I'm interested in. At what cost? Who cares. As long as the song really, really moves people, then whatever sacrifices you have to make in order to get there are fine with me or that you will continue to make in the future. It's not such a bad thing to inhabit these emotions, you're very, very much alive and in the moment while you're doing them.
(𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑐𝑠 𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 25𝑡ℎ, 2022)
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Photo credit: Scarlet Page

Video by ofenziva
Post by Olga

💧 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙀𝘽𝙊 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 💧

🌸 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺'𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘔𝘦 𝘎𝘰. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘯𝘺𝘭𝘦 𝘦𝘵 𝘈𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘣𝘶𝘮, 𝘮𝘪𝘹𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯.
𝘏𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 !

Photo credit: Mads Perch, Vinyle et Audio magazine (cover + page), Edit by Laetitia

🌊 It's been a decade since 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 last released an album, but the long wait is over. The band is finally back with a magnificent record, which flirts as much with the roughness of stoner as with the benevolence of pop, even if the general theme is the end of our world.


🌊 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐's new work is entitled 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒆 𝑮𝒐, and is addressed directly to planet Earth. Several songs deal with the end of the world. Not because of an atomic war, that would almost be topical, but because of the appalling treatment we have been giving it for years. It is the subject of the third single 𝑻𝒓𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆, a track with a deliberate tempo and an obsessive chorus, but also and above all the theme of the enigmatic cover. An image with no other life than the ebb and flow of the tides...


🥬 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 🥬

🌊 So this is what the end of the world might look like, a still life, frozen for eternity in its pictorial beauty. “𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠," 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 tells us. "𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑁𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑛 𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑡 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑢𝑚𝑝. 𝐼𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑔𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑗𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑠, 𝑠𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑡ℎ, 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖-𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑏𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠. 𝐺𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑎 𝑟𝑢𝑏𝑏𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ."


🌊 Many fans will no doubt have in mind the third 𝑮𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒛 album, 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉, which dealt with a very close reality, that of the plastic that invades our coasts and is washed up by the ocean. Yet this is only the tip of the iceberg. Another song on this new 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 album perfectly illustrates the negative irreversibility of man's hand on his environment, 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑪𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒔. "𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑦𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑠, 𝑃𝐹𝐴𝑆 (𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘺𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘺𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘺𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴), 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛. 𝑀𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓.”


🌊 PFAS are the result of modern industry. This has contaminated the water, the soil, but also our metabolisms and those of animals. Every day, newborns have tiny chemical residues in them from their parents, the first victims. There is a documentary called 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍 𝑾𝒆 𝑲𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒚 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒕𝒊𝒈 which tells of the dangers of Teflon, and which questions the potential responsibility of the du Pont de Nemours group. "𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼'𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑠, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑙. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑠."

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach cover

🥬 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚 𝐝𝐮𝐨 🥬

🌊 If 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 hadn't recorded anything for a long time - their last album 𝑳𝒐𝒖𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆 dates back to September 2013 - it's also because the last tour had exhausted the troops. Many countries, many festivals, something like 150 dates spread over two years, but above all performances that were increasingly dehumanised. Chronicle of a death foretold, the band saw no point in an immediate sequel, everything came to a gradual halt in 2018. The trio became a duo.


🌊 The months passed and so did the years, the truce imposed by the pandemic and the lockdown had taken everyone by surprise. But 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 couldn't celebrate his 50th birthday alone in front of his TV screen with a lunch tray, so he started the machine again, slowly but firmly. "𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠. 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝐿𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦-𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑟. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑦 ! 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑟𝑦. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑔𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑠, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑠, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑐. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑎𝑠𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙. 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 !"


🌊 To bounce back, you have to hit rock bottom. 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 and 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍, his lifelong partner, were in the studio. They no longer needed a drummer, a position that was always a bit shaky for them, drum machines and occasional volunteers would do. It was like a return to the early days, when they both found themselves locked in a studio trying to combine their talents for the first time. At the American International High School in Luxembourg, they didn't hang out. However, from that day in 1994 when they met on the London underground, an instant complicity took place. They never left each other's side.


🌊 The first songs quickly appeared and also simply found a large following. But a quarter of a century later, they don't really know how to approach a follow-up. Then a simple but strange idea came up. Why not approach the new album from the end ? First think of the packaging, the cover, then improvise the content, the songs...


🌊 It's a risky business, but it works. "𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐵𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑠 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑇𝑉 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 2020 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒. 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑜 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑓𝑎𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑢𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠. 𝐷𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑤𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 (𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑑𝑠), 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑜."


🌊 There is a song on this record 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝑩𝒚 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒆𝒔, the theme of which tells a true story about 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏. One day he found out that his neighbours were spying on him. It is true that his private life has always fascinated the media. Ever since he revealed his bisexuality, ever since he became the father of a boy turned actor, with 𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒂 𝑩𝒆𝒓𝒈, 𝑪𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐 has appeared in the Netflix series 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒅𝒐𝒘 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒏𝒆. Since admitting to using a few recreational drugs. Since he became a star, in fact. "𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑂𝑟𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑙. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑠, 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑢𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒. 𝐼 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡 ?"

Photo credit: Jon Stone

🥬 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐚 🥬

🌊 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑴𝒐𝒍𝒌𝒐's record deals with heavy themes that instinctively come up in conversation: the ecological disaster, the evils of the internet, the bottomless pits of instagram narcissism, and the deep disappointment that humanity has become. Early in their career, the songs were about the emotions of adolescence and were therefore very introspective. The band had not yet found its place in this world and was looking for ways to occupy it. Today, they have woken up and are finally willing to share their anxieties, as the closing track 𝑭𝒊𝒙 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 seems to indicate. Alas, the disillusionment is huge, and the fight to be waged is colossal.


🌊 It is a harsh and dark awakening, after years of various slumbers, and an anesthesia induced by easy fortune. 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 has sold around thirteen million albums. But 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒃𝒐 didn't want to repeat a recipe, they prefer to question everything. This fits in well with their original premise, acting differently has given a new relief to their music, particularly successful and lively on this record. And so much the worse if the 6 strings have become here a melodic support to the synthesizers rather than a conductor of the orchestra, because it is particularly vivifying.


🌊 "𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑛𝑖𝑎. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑠𝑦𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ, 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑡'𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑛, 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑏𝑢𝑚." This song is about the same theme that was mentioned in 𝑵𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝑩𝒐𝒚, that of homosexuality. But if at the time a reproachful look was cast on this fashion which consisted in claiming to be gay, from now on, it is just the story of a romance outside the heteronormative limits. A fragile ballad because it carries a certain melancholy, it is above all timeless because 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏's voice is particularly ageless. The passage of time has no effect on his voice, which is as nasal and deep as ever, but above all melodious and caressing.

Photo credit unknown, edit by Laetitia

🌊 This is not the only highlight of the album, however. 𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚 is a beautiful celebration of the ghosts that accompany us. "𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝐼 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑦. 𝐼 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑎 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛. 𝑀𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑛𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑𝑦, 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑏𝑣𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑒. 𝑁𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑚𝑦.”
✔️ 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙴𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚅𝚒𝚗𝚢𝚕𝚎 𝚎𝚝 𝙰𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘 𝚗°𝟷𝟸 - 𝙼𝚊𝚢/𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟸0𝟸𝟸

🌸 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘐𝘯 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘬𝘺 🌸
🎵 https://bit.ly/3sn7alT 🎵

Translation by Laetitia
Post by Laetitia

▪♦️▪ 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙀𝘽𝙊 𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙀𝙍𝙑𝙄𝙀𝙒 𝙊𝙉 𝙍𝙏𝙇2 - 𝙈𝘼𝙍𝘾𝙃 2022 ▪♦️▪

𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 and 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 were the guests of the French Radio RTL2, at #LeDriveRTL2 hosted by Caroline Chimot and Carole Vega. It was broadcasted on March 25, the release day of 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨 🎶 
✒️ Here's a transcript of the interview .
Enjoy reading dear Soulmates 😊

🔸 🔸 🔸 🔸

◾𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗧𝗟𝟮 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁. 𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝘀𝗱𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. 𝗪𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗹𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀. 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗜'𝗺 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀? 𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 ? 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴.
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: Who is James to you ?

◾𝗧𝗼 𝗺𝗲 ?
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: That's the question that matters. Why would James be hurt ? Why would James be a human being ? Who is James ? Who is James to you ? I hope it will be different for you and the rest of the team. As I told you off-air, I don't really tend to explain songs like that. I prefer people to have a personal connection to the song, to be able to experience their own story through the song. I think that's how you get longevity out of a piece of music.

◾𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲, 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴 ?
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: No.

◾𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 ?
Brian: No. Not at all.

◾𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 ?
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: I write for myself because I need to write. It's an emergency basically. We just hope that people will like it. But how can you communicate emotion to someone else if you don't have emotion for your own song ? How are you going to make someone else happy if your song doesn't make you happy ? Or that tells something important to you ? When you go to watch a Steven Spielberg movie, especially with the music, you see Spielberg's hand always pushing a button. "Okay now you're going to feel like that. Now you're going to feel like this and now you're going to feel like this". I don't want to do that to people who listen to our music. I prefer that they find their own interpretation. That way, the song can live much longer in their heart.

Photo credit: Mads Perch

◾𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳𝗮𝗻, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻'𝘀 𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻'𝘀 𝗹𝘆𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 ? 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 ?
🎸𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑭𝑨𝑵: The process is quite instinctual when it comes to writing our music. And the way that we react is based on our emotional basis. If we both feel that it feels right, that's usually the starting point for our songs.

◾(𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥) 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝘁. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱.

◾𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼, 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝘂𝗱 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼. 𝗜 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿. 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀 ? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗱 ?
🎸𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑭𝑨𝑵: Yeah we embarked on our 20th Anniversary Tour and we released a retrospective. It was supposed to last for a year but it turned out to be three years. I think by the end of it, just playing all the old songs, we started to get a little bit disconnected to them. I think at that point, for doing another tour, we need a new album.

◾(𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥) 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 #𝗟𝗲𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗥𝗧𝗟𝟮. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗕𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗸𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗠𝗲 𝗚𝗼. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗧𝗟𝟮.

◾𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗜 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀, 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺 𝗶𝘀: 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺 ? 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼, 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 ?
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: That was the first creative decision, yes.

◾𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 ?
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: It represents nature's ability to transform human waste into something beautiful.

◾𝗦𝗼 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗽𝗵𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂...
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: You talk about some examples of starting points. That was our way of starting and we just wanted to break completely with our classical methodology that was working. But honestly, we were afraid of getting bored. So we had to approach the whole record with an attitude like: "What do we normally do ? Okay. We're doing the opposite, we're doing something that's out of our comfort zone". We didn't want to get too comfortable, we needed danger and risk.

◾𝗢𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻. 𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘂𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘁...
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: It's also something that happens instinctively. It's more the songs that tell you where to place them. We are servants to each song. We don't dominate the songs. They speak to us and tell us where to place them and what to do with them. Or if there is a gap…

Photo credit: Mads Perch

◾𝗕𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻...
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: It's a bit of an esoteric approach, but that's how it feels.

◾𝗢𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱, 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝘆 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗲𝘀.

◾𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆... 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗼𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲. 𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 ?
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: I don't feel persecuted by social networks. It's really very, very simple. You probably just don't have to engage with it, that's all. But yes, I do feel oppressed by surveillance. Is there anywhere in this fucking world where you can go without people watching you ? There's not enough mystery in this world I think. But it's worth pointing out, there's no one on their social networks who presents themselves in an authentic way, there's really no one who presents themselves without a filter. These are people who project an image that they want the world to see in a certain way that is not actually real. We've taken that aesthetic and pushed it to the extreme.

◾𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗺 𝘆𝗼𝘂.
🎸𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑨𝑵: We've always had this opinion that concerts are for making memories, not videos. It makes our job very difficult because we're here to play music for people, not for cameras.

◾𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗯𝗼, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗼𝗹𝗸𝗼, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳𝗮𝗻 𝗢𝗹𝘀𝗱𝗮𝗹. 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗲𝘁 𝗠𝗲 𝗚𝗼, 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆.
🖊️ Translation and transcript by Laetitia

🔸 🔸 🔸 🔸

𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒
📻 https://bit.ly/3NzYOk6 ⭐

Post by Laetitia

✨🌼 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍 (MYROCK MARCH 2022)🌼✨

"𝑰𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒇𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇."

⭐ 𝑷𝑳𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑩𝑶, 𝑭𝑶𝑹𝑪𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬

After a colossal anniversary tour and nine years of recording silence, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨 are finally back in business. Live from his London rehearsal studio, chameleon rock icon 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐨 chatted with us at length about his edgy, unconventional eighth release, 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨.

Photo credit: Mads Perch / Edit by Laetitia

𝑯𝒊 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏! 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 ?
💬 Oh, I've got a bit of the Monday blues, but I'm fine.


𝑾𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔. 𝑾𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒂𝒍𝒃𝒖𝒎 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒄...
💬 Yes, of course. We were almost ready to release it and go on tour two years ago. Everything that's happening now is happening in a time lag. And then, our retrospective tour for our twentieth anniversary and the one for 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 also took a lot of time and energy. Nine years without a new record is a long time, but that's the way it is. Unfortunately, we had no control over it.


𝑻𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒆𝒙𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅 ?
💬 I'm sure it helped shape its sonic palette. It was like a kind of rebellion against this more commercial aspect of the band's life. On 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨, we really had this sincere desire to lay ourselves bare. Every album we've done has been a reaction to the previous one, but on this one I think it was more in response to this rather masturbatory anniversary tour. On the other hand, I also realize that it did our audience a lot of good. It has taught us to accept the euphoria that the fans give us on stage. And this is probably the first time in my life that I've realized that so much, because I've always made music in a very selfish way. It's a necessary means of expression for me. If this tour has taught us anything, it's that there is value in giving pleasure to others, rather than satisfying yourself.


𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒆 𝑮𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒊𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝑶𝒍𝒔𝒅𝒂𝒍'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒊𝒐 𝒊𝒏 𝑳𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒏. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒃𝒐𝒕𝒉 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 ?
💬 Actually, I think we started earlier than that, in 2016. It was as if we were back in the early days of 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨, and as a pair we realized the endless possibilities that were open to us. We could do anything... so that's what we did, anything ! (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴) So we started digging in lots of different directions, like we were diving into little imaginary rabbit holes. We were like Alice In Wonderland or Sonic jumping from ring to ring to change dimensions. That's what set the mood for most of the new songs.

Photo credit: Torsten Roman, 2009 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 center? 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 ?
💬 I guess after twenty-five years of playing guitar, you get intrigued by sounds that still have some kind of mystery to us. So there was something enigmatic about using synthesizers. But we deserve to be enthusiastic and have this freedom ! We've always had this very democratic approach to the use of instruments. Each instrument has to have a specific meaning and role. It has to serve the song. On this album, we didn't want to force ourselves to add guitars to remind us of our identity. We knew it was a danger to force things. One of our biggest influences in that respect is 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞. When we started 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨, my favourite band was Sonic Youth and for 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗳 it was 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞. So we tried to make a big mix of those two influences, and finally discovered our own sound. On 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐌𝐞 𝐆𝐨, I think there are also traces of 𝐊𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐤, 𝐂𝐚𝐧, 𝐅𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭, the whole German krautrock scene that gradually evolved into a more electronic sound, which we always loved.


𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒏𝒂𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒍𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 ?
💬 You know, I've always had a big problem with patience. I tend to get bored very, very quickly. The tricky experience of our retrospective tour made us realize that we needed to get back to something challenging and disruptive. We didn't want to lose ourselves artistically in the past. When I went into the studio, I said to myself, "𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘥". That's where the idea of doing everything backwards came from.


𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 ?
💬 Well, I wondered what is the last thing we usually choose when making a record. Most of the time, it's the cover, isn't it ? So let's start with that ! So on our first day in the studio I came up with this image and this idea of doing everything the wrong way round. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟 was very excited about this approach, so we made the whole album that way. This allowed us to renew our creative process, but also to re-imagine our own role as a composer and artist.


𝑫𝒊𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅 𝑩𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒍𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 ?
💬 Absolutely, but I don't think I have enough energy in me to change characters as many times as 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 did throughout his career. A few days ago, it was his birthday. He should have been 75. Now I'm almost 50, I'm getting older, so I think about him a lot. When I was my age, he had this huge party at 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘎𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯, where we had the honour of playing. When I was in his orbit, I was young and arrogant. I was convinced that I deserved to be there with him. It wasn't until he left us that I really understood the effect he had on my life as a human being and as an artist. At the time, I didn't realize anything. Today, all this learning makes sense. It's very moving and overwhelming. But somewhere, I have the feeling that I still carry him with me a little, like a mentor, a godfather or a lucky star. Without getting too esoteric, I still feel like I have a relationship with him (𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵). Excuse me, it's still very hard for me to talk about 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 . I am absolutely, unequivocally grateful to him.

Photo credit; Robin Francois

𝑰𝒕'𝒔 𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆...
💬 Sometimes I'm suddenly struck by strong emotions, and talking about 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 often triggers that for me. I remember having a long discussion with 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟 about whether or not we should continue to play 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐈'𝐦 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 on stage. Every time we play it live, we project images of 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 on the big screens. It's so strong emotionally for me that it breaks my heart a little bit. But I'm sure 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 would have said to me: "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸". He always asked me if I was comfortable with my music. If I said yes, then he would tell me that I was not ! (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴) For him, you had to be uncomfortable, all the time. 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐟 often reminds me of this phrase when I get too emotional during a live performance.


𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕 𝑴𝒆 𝑮𝒐. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖 ?
💬 It's a pretty cool story. It's a picture of a beach, 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, north of San Francisco, California. In the 50's, or maybe even a little bit before, this bay was used by humans as a kind of garbage dump. They used to dump everything in it: cars, fridges... all their crap ! A few years later, they did a big clean up, removing all the metal. They then realized that the water had polished off all the glass bottles underneath, forming a unique beach filled with small multi-coloured pebbles. To me, this is a good representation of how nature acts in response to the harmful actions of human beings. We use our ecosystem as a giant bin. In other words, we shit on it ! (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴) In addition to cleaning up our mistakes, our planet manages to make something beautiful out of it. I think it's a very strong message. It's also an increasingly topical theme, which I wanted to highlight on the record. Today, it's almost impossible to make an album without mentioning the ecological crisis.


𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝑻𝑰𝒎𝒆...
💬 Like the other tracks, I wanted to express myself more honestly about what I think of the world today. I wanted to capture all the confusion that surrounds it. This song is based on the theory of evolution. An animal or an insect adapts to its environment, while a human being adapts it according to his moods. What is implicit in this, even beyond what my lyrics or the cover of this record suggest, is that nature will always eventually take over. The world we destroy day after day will return to its wild state when we disappear, which at this rate may happen sooner than expected. How can I not get the Monday blues when I think about this ? (𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘴)
✔️ 𝙼𝚈𝚁𝙾𝙲𝙺 𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚗°𝟽𝟺 - 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚑 𝟸0𝟸𝟸
✒️ Translation and transcript by Laetitia

⭐ Brian being emotional when speaking about David Bowie is so touching 💗
⭐ Four days before the album release ! 😄 Do you feel the excitement growing up dear Soulmates ?? 🔥 🎶 🎸

Posr by Laetitia