It is always a pleasure to answer an ITW from Stéphane of La Parisienne Life.
Aujourd’hui nous nous rencontrons pour parler de mon album “Le monde est fou” qui sort le 19 novembre
REUNION WITH ISA SOMPARÉ AT STUDIO LUNA FOR THE RELEASE OF HER NEW ALBUM ENTITLED “LE MONDE EST FOU” !
Published on 17 November 2021 by Steph Musicnation
Is “Le Monde Est Fou” in the line of “Rouge à Rêve” released in 2016 or did you explore new directions?
Yes and no; “Le Monde Est Fou” is perhaps in the same vein as “Rouge à Rêve” in terms of writing except that on my previous record, I dealt with the feeling of love, love, breakup and everything that can happen in between. “Rouge à Rêve” was more about intimacy whereas this one is open to the outside world. From a musical point of view, at first sight, this record is not in the line of its predecessor. “Rouge à Rêve” was more acoustic with small electro touches whereas “Le Monde Est Fou” is more radical. It is much more pushed on the level of the synthetic sounds.
Was the work different on “Le Monde Est Fou”?
Yes, on the first one, even if I am in charge of the arrangements and the realization of my albums, I had called upon several musicians who had played, in studio, with real instruments, whereas for “Le Monde Est Fou” which was made during the confinement, I worked only with two musicians; Léandro Aconcha on piano and keyboards and Daniel Blanc on guitar. As we couldn’t meet because of the sanitary measures, I sent them my demos asking them for precise things and then they sent me back their tracks by Internet. The work was done remotely and the sound is a bit different because this record was made with more machines than the first one, and in my home studio.
Pourquoi n’as-tu pas inclus les titres « Zumba Météo » et « Comment Te Dire » sur ce disque ?
Tout simplement parce que ce n’était pas vraiment le propos. J’ai voulu garder une cohérence dans ce disque. « Zumba Météo » est une chanson très solaire et joyeuse et « Comment Te Dire » également. Ces chansons sont assez légères et même si elles n’ont pas un propos hyper profond j’aime les écrire. “Le Monde Est Fou” en revanche, même si je pense que l’on s’attache d’abord à la musique, est plus construit au niveau du fond.
Avec un titre comme « Le Monde Est Fou », on pourrait penser que tu vas proposer une musique plus engagée, est-ce le cas ?
Il est vrai que j’avais des choses à dire sur ce disque mais je me méfie du terme engagé car ce n’est pas un album revendicateur. Par rapport aux thèmes abordés sur ce disque, ça pourrait vite devenir politique mais j’essaie de toujours laisser “ouvert” dans mon écriture et surtout je ne porte jamais de jugement, je raconte ce qui me touche.
De quoi parles-tu sur ton nouveau disque ?
Je parle des migrants, de la prostitution, d’écologie, de folie intérieure. Je me suis inspirée de la légende qui entoure le guitariste Robert Johnson qui aurait vendu son âme au Diable pour écrire “Carrefour du Diable”. Dans “Le Lac Léman”, je parle de la folie dans un couple qui ne va pas bien et qui se ment, et “J’attends” traite de cette attente folle durant le confinement…
Qu’est-ce qui te fait dire que le monde est fou ?
Tout ! (Rires) On ne va pas parler politique ou géopolitique mais il suffit de regarder les informations pour être frappé par la folie du monde dans lequel nous vivons ; la pédocriminalité au sein de l’église, ce qui se passe en Afghanistan, l’avenir des femmes dans ce pays, le terrorisme au Mali, le procès du 13 novembre, ce qui se passe en Turquie, au Brésil, Trump, le COVID, la destruction permanente de la Terre au nom du profit…C’est complètement fou ! Le monde l’était peut-être déjà avant mais aujourd’hui, on s’en rend d’autant plus compte car tout est médiatisé.
“The World Is Crazy” has a little travel side, is it lived or fantasized?
These are impressions and phrases that come to me in situations that I live. The song “Le Monde Est Fou” came to me after a trip to Canada where I found Beluga dead on the shore in a small cove. There was an atmosphere and the smell especially, and I felt like writing about whales. As far as “Porn Geneva” is concerned, it’s real. We were walking in Geneva where everything is clean everywhere and we arrived by chance in this district where the girls were in the window like in Amsterdam. I was surprised by this discrepancy between this Geneva so clean, so rich and this district where we see the financial and especially psychological misery and I made a song of it. “Traverser Les Rivières” is about migrants who leave everything and go far away, they cross lands, seas, they risk their lives… I didn’t live it but it’s something I can see on TV and it touches me. I am of mixed race, I have part of my family in Guinea and they all dream of coming to Europe. On “Traverser Les Rivières”, there is a whole text in Soussou and it is my cousin Issa who lives in Switzerland who says it.
How would you describe your new recording step?
Committed, elegant, surprising, beautiful, I hope. Next.
What colors would you give to this record?
Yellow because it shows. It is the color of the sun, it catches and I think it gives a certain purity to the image. Purple: a little nod to Prince, this color is beautiful and it’s also the color of mourning. Red : it’s a color I like, it’s violent, it’s the color of blood and life too. And maybe pink for the sweetness of the voice.
Is having time and taking detours the message of your new record?
Good point, it’s in the song “J’attends”. I don’t know if it’s the message but it’s a nice one. For this title, I was inspired by the poem “Par Les Villages” by Peter Handke. To sum up, this poem says that going through the villages is to take the time to see things and that the way is more important than the goal. Compared to our time where everything goes super fast, I thought it was good to try to slow down a little. The praise of slowness, why not? For my part, I like it when it goes fast but I also like to take the time to look and to live. Flaubert said that a thing is beautiful when you look at it for a long time. I find that true.
What are your news and/or next projects ?
The single “Le Monde Est Fou” was released on November 5th and the animated video clip illustrating it was put online a week later. As for the album, it will be released on November 19th. We are currently working on the live album in order to defend it on stage. A second track should be extracted from this record in early 2022…