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Matmatah a annoncé fin 2007 sa séparation, programmée pour l’été 2008. Avant de se consacrer à leurs nouveaux projets respectifs, les membres du groupe ont passé quelques temps au studio La Chapelle avec Thierry Garacino, réalisateur de « La Cerise » et Emmanuel Casals, réalisateur d’ « Archie Kramer ».
Il en est ressorti quelques enregistrements, dont leur dernier morceau, « Bande à Part », épilogue de ces 13 années d’histoire commune, et un duo revisité avec Beverly Jo Scott de « Video Killed The Radio Star » des Buggles dans une version acoustique profondément éloignée de l’originale.
Les membres de Matmatah avaient à cœur de saluer une dernière fois leur public avant de tourner la page, et remonteront sur scène cet été pour 5 concerts qui vont conclure une carrière exceptionnelle, ponctuée de chansons qui auront marqué une génération, de « Lambé An Dro » à « Au Conditionnel », « La Cerise », « Emma », ou encore « Comme Si De Rien N’était ».
Avec 1,2 millions d’albums vendus, plus de 1000 concerts en France, Suisse, Belgique, Canada, Inde, Russie, Allemagne, Pologne, Pays Bas, Hong Kong, Australie, Hongrie, etc… , Tristan Nihouarn, Cédric Floc’h, Eric Digaire et Benoit Fournier joueront dans des lieux qui auront marqué leur carrière, . à suivre . A cet été !
-Matmatah.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------More than twelve years of existence, four studio albums - La Ouache (The Bear’s Den), Rebelote (Here we go again), Archie Kramer and now La Cerise (The Cherry) - and one live - Lust For A Live: the figures alone barely reflect Matmatah’s sparkling health. The group - formed by Tristan Nihouarn, Cédric Floc’h, Eric Digaire and Benoît Fournier (who joined them on drums four years ago) - have continued to forge ahead in total independence, with a record followed by a tour every two years. In 2006, the Brest quartet actually doubled their work rate: once the last concert was done, they released a brief collection of six new tracks with an Indian flavour: “And Time Goes Friendly”, dreamt up on the spice route. As rock history has often shown, with that kind of output, most bands burn themselves out in under three years. Not Matmatah. The group are a powerhouse. Channelling all their energy on stage, the four recharge their batteries for the album to come, finding new paths to explore to let some fresh air into their music, and spicing up the rules of the game (the minimum needed to fan the flames of enthusiasm). “We often hear artists say that a record’s a bit like a baby. That’s not true. Once it’s recorded, an album never grows up. It’s frozen… like a Polaroid. Only concerts can change the songs. In Matmatah, once we’ve finished an album, we’re mainly obsessed by the tour and the next record. We don’t like to dwell on the past.”
By looking to the future, Matmatah have taken giant steps since La Ouache. Correcting misunderstandings here and there, and working with the right sound men - Daniel Presley (Faith No More), Head (PJ Harvey) and Emmanuel Casals (Gotan Project) - the four achieved a flash of true greatness on Archie Kramer, the third volume of their discography, boosted by the single Au Conditionnel (In the Conditional) and supported with a long-haul tour. On the album, the group perfected their musical stance down to the slightest detail. Since then, we have realised that Matmatah care nothing for avant-garde concepts or experimental poses, but simply believe in the fundamental values of music: fun and the basic pleasure of a song imagined, experienced and played from the heart. That is where the group’s identity lies: in the art of living out their songs, and quoting the residents of their record collection and imagination without hiding behind mannered smokescreens. Matmatah’s distinctiveness, undeniable today, lies in their method, mischief and brushstrokes.
Opening with title song, La Cerise, this fourth album immediately displays its creators’ hallmark. Its spirit goes marching on, both in traditional Matmatah-style songs, hilarious slices of life where the group run the absurd through the mill - Crépuscule Dandy (Twilight Dandy), Basta Les Aléas (Enough of Ups and Downs), and especially the ability to make light of influences, telescoping them or teleporting them into unknown worlds. Working closely with producer Thierry Garacino and Scott Greiner, Matmatah have invented their ideal world by organising close encounters between genres within a superb, vintage sound setting, with an eye to texture and precision of taste. The art of talk-over is fused with Jimmy Page’s offbeat constructions - Le Festin De Bianca (Bianca’s Feast); half ’71 Lennon, half ’72 Bowie, a stream of strings rushes over a curve of piano - Entrez Dans Ce Lit (Get Into This Bed); a leaden sky looms over the late great Gainsbourg - La Fleur De l’Âge (The Prime of Life); Iggy Pop dances the mambo (La Serpeta Del Barrio); and Muddy Waters plays with a deliberately offbeat backing band on Pony The Pra, an exploded four-part song inspired by lines from Jack Kerouac’s Book Of Blues.
Playful and adventurous, precise and scholarly, Cerise not only provides an optimised fusion between the group’s personal ambitions and the records that have meant something to them, but also reveals writing skills that were formerly sensed rather than demonstrated. In this collection of songs, Matmatah have visibly reached a turning point in their lyrical allusions, cinematographic content and narrative intentions. Each song is a four-minute short story, examining tales of domestic conflict, probing the frightening beauty of the scars of time, and mapping the paths of experience, self-denial, love and freedom. “Now We Have A Pen” sing Matmatah, in the language of the Beatles. Absolutely.
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