Propos De Fantomes [LP]

A pioneer of French synthwave revealed by "Les otaries" and "Lente démocratie", Arne Vinzon is back for a fifth album and summons the ghosts of the past who, from the depths of mines to flowery shores, happily drag their ball and chain. Boo!Here the ghosts act as compasses frozen in time, sort of soft comforters draped in a slightly faded white. That of Paul Verlaine who, from the Batignolles cemetery, must wiggle to an unexpected and rhythmic cover of his poem "Charleroi". Or that of "Jeremiah Johnson", the solitary hero of Sydney Pollack's film played by Robert Redford, in the eponymous song that opens the album to set the mood. To save them, A propos de fantômes sounds like an optimistic incantation that transcends time, an invitation to travel through emotions, precious memories, well-hidden secrets, almost revealed. At a time when our world, on fire, blood, and at full speed, sees it's old ghosts resurface, Arne Vinzon plays Ghostbusters made in Leos Carax. Better, he does not chase them away, but welcomes them with open arms, a waddling dandy who, with this latest album, marks a new beat against his time.