Requin Chagrin

For Requin Chagrin's fourth album, Marion Brunetto occupies every role. Author, composer and performer, of course, but also behind every instrument and in production and realization: she appears on every track. Not for ego reasons, she settled these matters from her early years as a drummer and a steadfast ally in garage and punk bands. And she willingly highlights her collaborators: Antoine Poyeton, the sound engineer, in co-production and mixing, and Simon Lancelot on mastering. This omnipresence is a guarantee of artistic coherence. In front of the mic, at the drums, at the mixing desk, it is always the same sensibility that must come through: her own. That has been Requin Chagrin's recipe since its birth ten years ago. To manage to get out of one's head and find a new way to compose to taste the joy of making music is not easy, a path along which one must work hard to reach the moment when it feels as if one is no longer working at all: "Switch off my brain to let the songs come," Marion describes, noting that the process was difficult but life-saving. The lyrics arrive at the end: she transforms the rough drafts of her working versions at the last minute, headphones on, immersed in the music, to let herself be overwhelmed by the emotions she transcribes by taking care to transform her personal experiences into universal metaphors. Requin Chagrin celebrates the marriage of guitars and synthesizers, drums and drum machines, of its fundamentals and a desire to evolve. Marion Brunetto emphasizes how these new songs unfold on stage, where she pushes the envelope even further. The album is luminous, threaded with the fervor of adolescence, marked by a joy and a depth linked to artistic freedom. Gravity conquered, takeoff achieved.