In twelve titles and raw texts, Chien Bleu unrolls flashbacks, recounts disillusions or existential doubts, evokes his urban childhood or his Czech origins on a soundtrack alternating rhythmic incises and atmospheric carpets.
At barely 30 years old, for his second album, the Geneva rapper, tattoo artist in the city, has already felt an imperious need to look in the rear view mirror. “I clearly felt that to understand where I’m going and to understand myself, I sometimes need to indulge myself in introspection. And there, it almost became the theme of the album, whereas it was not not a will at the start”, explains Chien Bleu to the RTS.
>> To see: the clip of “Bagarre dans la cour”
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“Stigmata and wounds inspire me”
If they have a well-anchored scope in the harsh urban daily life, these “Wild Days” are also imbued with a certain form of nostalgia. “The fear of this kind of current global disaster, which goes through both the pandemic and the ecology, inspires me. These are particularly wild days, like the childhood I lived.”
If the general tone of the repertoire is dark, it is however not overwhelming, thanks in particular to the warmth of the instrumentations and the more frequent sung parts than on “Papillon”, the previous album by Chien Bleu released two years ago. . The ex-punk singer converted to hip-hop scansions nuances: “I don’t feel like I’m complaining, but only describing the darkness that surrounds me. The stigmata and the wounds challenge me and inspire me more than sun and beach. I leave that to Magic System.”
A repertoire steeped in dualities
Thus, “Savage Days” does not overlook existential questions. In “Chosen”, Chien Bleu admits to being afraid of having the wrong life while “Ok” addresses the fear of failure. “I find that life changes from the moment you realize that you are going to die. And I realized that quite quickly. That’s probably also why I never stopped to make music, which I live hard. All that goes with the fear of failure, because when there’s a deadline, you realize that you won’t be able to do everything you want and that you have to make choices. And the choices are not easy, but for me it is inspiring”.
>> To see: the clip of “Chosen”
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By questioning and observing his environment while questioning himself, Chien Bleu manages with “Jours sauvage” to create a repertoire steeped in dualities right down to his lexical choices: “I don’t know if it’s an album of duality, but I like to work by contrasts. And I find that a poetic image will always shine more next to a harder or darker element and vice versa. I always try to find the element that will make the word shine. After”.
Olivier Horner
Blue Dog, “Wild Days” (Monlausanne Production).
In concert at the Usine à Gaz, Nyon, as part of the Les Hivernales festival, on March 3.