Bertrand Burgalat
Portrait-Robot

THE REVIEW

Elegance, style, sophistication, and above all, a lot of study—these are the things that come out when listening to this album, one of the countless times you'll do so if you like the genre. It is incredibly engaging; its rock is the culmination of the times, a sort of summary of previous episodes. A whole series of sonic deja-vus will quickly pass by you, and you won't have time to linger on them because your attention will be diverted elsewhere.

He sings in French, and when he does in English, his pronunciation is very "francophone," which sweetens the whole. I've been listening to it for a couple of months now, the tracks are sweetly melancholic and quite musically complex, in the sense that especially at the beginning, you are surprised by how this gentleman always manages to find the most complicated thing to do in the melodic sequence; in this regard, listen to "Je Suis Seul dans Ma Chanson" and "Ma Boîte à Musique." The CD consists of 19 tracks, all beautiful and flowing, among which, besides the two already mentioned, "Another World Gone By" stands out, very Fab Four, "Demolition Derby" that takes you back to an almost '60s atmosphere with its accompanying choir, and "Broder King," which somewhat recalls the more "French" Paolo Conte of "Razmataz" with the female vocals more pronounced.

However, throughout the album, one breathes, as now seems inevitable in French productions, a Serge Gainsbourg atmosphere, which I believe is the primary reference even for this artist. Burgalat, of Corsican origin, with those big glasses on the cover, started as a DJ in the electro-dance style of Nicola Conte, set Michel Houellebecq's poems to music in 2000, is certainly very "trendy," and I acknowledge that he might also come across as a bit annoying, but he knows how to write songs, and well. But is he a genius or a nerd?