Le premier album solo et éponyme de Carl Barât sortira le 04 Octobre via son propre label, Arcady Record (en licence chez [PIAS]recordings)..
Après deux albums avec The Libertines et deux autres avec les Dirty Pretty Things, Carl ressent le besoin de faire sa propre musique, de suivre ses propres envies. Enregistré à Londres et mixé à New-York, le résultat témoigne de l’éloignement de ses anciens projets, mais conserve un goût prononcé pour la mélodie. Cet album lui donne l’opportunité de travailler avec de nouvelles personnes et de s’essayer à de nouveaux univers musicaux. Il s’offre le génie de Neil Hannon, leader de The Divine Comedy, chez qui il effectuera un séjour en Irlande afin de finaliser « The Fall ». Il sollicite également la collaboration d’Andrew Wyatt , leader des Miike Snow’s, pour « The Magus », « Je Regrette, Je Regrette », « What Have I Done » ou encore « Ode To A Girl ». On se trouve alors face à un album sincère racontant à la fois l’amitié et le désespoir des amours perdus. Le morceau d’ouverture « The Magus » renferme la magie des boîtes à musique, « Carve My Name » est un déchaînement de cordes, et « So Long My Lover » garde un optimisme à toute épreuve malgré une rupture annoncée.
The first bit, you know already. The Libertines – the greatest rock and roll story of a generation, a classic British debut rock album in 2002’s ‘Up The Bracket’ and the capturing of countless hearts with a musical spirit we hadn’t been within touching distance of since Britpop. Now back in 2010 to play the Reading and Leeds Festivals, to finally have the full-stop they never got the dignity of after a messy and depressing split in 2004.
It’s a reunion that has been a long time coming – and one that, if co-frontman Pete Doherty had had his way, would have been completed already, last year or even earlier. But while friendships were rebuilt and the timing finally became right in 2010, there was something else that had stopped Carl Barât from leaping into the circus earlier, despite Pete’s attempts to “twist his arm” into agreeing over the past couple of years. Something inside him that, after releasing four albums with The Libertines and Dirty Pretty Things, had caused his focus to rest on something that had become more important, real and personal – too vital to leave to wait, whatever the lucrative temptations.
“I’d had it with bands,” Carl bluntly sums up. “On a number of levels really. Chiefly the democracy thing that I had with bands. It doesn’t really work. I wanted to do it my own way, to test myself rather than working to a shared vision or compromise.”
And the test? Carl stepping out of the line-up to release his first solo album this October. Born from a set of introspective demos spawned in his north London home in 2009 and brought to life in early 2010 with producer Leo Abrahams in London’s Miloko studios, the self-titled record is a bold yet tender affair characterised by Carl’s classic British songwriting and heart-on-the-leather-jacket sleeve-honesty. An album as far from the indie conveyor belt as you could get, while still cut through with the big tunes and un-shakeable pedigree that has seen Carl carve his name in the history of British rock already.
“A mate gave me a copy of ‘I See A Darkness’ by Bonnie Prince Billy,” Carl offers, trying to explain how he garnered the confidence to put his own name on the firing line. “That album said to me, ‘You don’t need this other shit, all that can fall away, when you’ve got melody and a song and simplicity’. That’s something I’d forgotten. As long as they connect, that’s it. That set me on my path.”
That path was one on which Carl would encounter a couple of figures who would help him fulfil his potential as a songwriter and solo performer. Rather than cast the net out to garner a big name remixer or collaborator in a shameless attempt at commercial success, Carl was after a kindred spirit. Enthused by a love of Miike Snow’s song ‘Animal’, Carl was introduced to the band’s Andrew Wyatt, who aided him with the songs ‘The Magus’, ‘Je Regrette, Je Regrette’, ‘What Have I Done’ and closer ‘Ode To A Girl’.
“I wanted a kindred spirit, someone who was really into my stuff but who does something so different,” Carl explains of the collaboration. “It’s exactly what I wanted. I couldn’t and wouldn’t just jump in and ask the Chemical Brothers to do it. I wanted someone who could understand the same kind of heartbeat.”
Another man who he found a connection with was The Divine Comedy mainman Neil Hannon, with the pair holing themselves up in Neil’s home in Ireland to complete ‘The Fall’ together. He was asking “What are you going to write about? Well, get writing, and here’s some chords.” I wrote about the deterioration of a relationship… it turned out wonderfully, and of course I’m a massive Father Ted fan.”
Complemented by these collaborators, Carl Barât’s solo album remains distinctly that – an album of unflinching honesty and beauty offering an insight into one of British modern rock’s most-loved and vital musicians. From the jaunty, piratey stomp of ‘The Magus’, through the sparkling canter ‘Je Regrette, Je Regrette’, via the violin storm ‘Carve My Name’ and the brassy, summery ‘Run With The Boys’, it confounds expectations. It’s far from the downbeat sparse piano album Carl hinted at in earlier interviews.
It also, in ‘So Long, My Lover’, contains unarguably one of the most chest-punchingly immediate songs of Carl’s career so far. “It was one of the easiest songs to write,” Carl laughs of the song. “That’s the lucky simplicity of the universe. It’s really brutally honest and truthful telling of a time – I hope that people can relate to it.”
It’s this natural, effortless songwriting that has made Carl’s solo album the joy it is – and also the wealth of experience he’s garnered that gives it such gravitas. And having released four band albums before, he must have a pretty good idea himself of how good an album it is, surely?
“If you’ve been working to the idea that it doesn’t have to sell anything, which I have,” he muses, “it makes it a lot easier, you can really just go with your heart. I always knew in my soul that this album was the truth and I genuinely love this record. I’ve never said that about a record I’ve made. I’m happier and more complete as a person for having made it now.”
