Yan Wagner
This Never Happened

In the enneagram, if you want to describe the personality of the type four (or type-4), you generally refer to a sense of frustration due to the lack of everything (envy), which leads to living in a tragic-romantic way. One could also define the type-4 as depressed and masochistic. Now, we don't know how much the artist we're about to present actually resembles the type-4, but from how Yan Wagner presents himself in the video for "No Love", we have no doubt that this young Parisian crooner can elegantly embody the essential characteristics of the dramatic personality in all its shades. In "No Love", the French-American artist showcases the sense of inadequacy felt from being rejected, abandoned. Perhaps for never having been loved in the past? Perhaps for being unworthy of love? Of course, we will never know. However, Yan Wagner in "No Love" skillfully navigates both the clichés of these thematic theatricalisms of type four and the clichés of 80s synth-pop.

This is what "This Never Happened" (2017) is all about, where Yan Wagner deconstructs the style of Depeche Mode and D.A.F. and adds his crooner vocals, somewhere between Lee Hazlewood and Frank Sinatra, for a sufficient number of tracks (more than three, at least this time) to raise the quality level of his effort compared to the previous "Forty Eight Hours" (2012). Even though the references and hints sometimes shamelessly brush against plagiarism, such as in A Place Nearby (which can also be interpreted as a homage to Brian Eno), or in "Close up" where Depeche Mode’s "Some Great Reward" and Kraftwerk’s "Computer World" coexist, it is the compositional quality that takes Yan Wagner beyond the retro-derivative stereotype. The initial title track is an incredibly light easytronic journey that even AIR would envy; the atmosphere of "Blacker" takes us (none other) to Tiga’s techno-house of "Far (From Home)"; "SlamDunk Cha-Cha" is a breezy pop number dedicated to Bowie; the krautrock of "Grenader" is very close to the sound of his compatriot Colder’s "Heat"; while the beautiful and darkest "No Love" gradually or immediately conquers the listener and, like good wine, can become addictive. Certainly, "A River of Blood", despite the desperation of its theme, is merely a poor track (here, dear Yan, we prefer to listen to undoubtedly "Eclipse" by Kirlian Camera if we want to pose as the dark catatonics of 1988); just as it’s truly mortifying to hear the atrocious cover of Frank Sinatra’s "It Was A Very Good Year", while "Generic City" is not very impactful despite the fluorescent effect of the David Sylvian-like vocals.

In short, the concept behind his second album "This Never Happened" of telling love stories that were never actually lived, of missed loves, of empty nocturnal experiences, of evanescent couplings (just like what happens to type four), doesn’t musically shift anything in the synth-pop style that Yan Wagner proposes. However, with the talent of a perfect mannerist, it offers the listener a multicolored taste that perfectly hits the target of a sonic imagination linked to a decade of the last century that we still struggle to shake off.