The “baby rocker” has grown up. Adrien Gallo is now 32 years old on the clock. “The past thirties require more requirements and work. It’s a different relationship to things, ”says the artist whose second solo album, Where the willows don’t cry, comes out this Friday.
In addition to the pieces signed for his group, the BB Brunes, the singer worked on these songs “in the intimate style” for six years. “I wrote several while thinking of my father [le réalisateur Jean-Pierre Gallo], disappeared in 2012. They were close to my heart, I wanted to release them one day or another. “
“Becoming a father has turned my life upside down”
In 2019, he himself became a dad of twins. “It turned my life upside down. I was busy on this album when they were born. I wanted him to be the link between my father and my children, that through this record, they meet him a little. “
The song Where the willows don’t cry operates this genealogical bridge. It opens with the babbling of the little ones and, in the words, Adrien Gallo addresses his father born in 1934 (“You had the art and the way to make forget the tracker, all the war, all the war, everything in the back is cold ”). A father who had introduced him to René Char and Jacques Prévert and who was himself a poet in his spare time. “I read a lot of the poems he wrote towards the end of his life,” says the singer. I wanted to be at his height, in quotes. I set the bar high enough for the texts. “
Another paternal influence is felt on the album, that of the French song which accompanied his life. “He listened to artists like Georges Brassens or Barbara a lot, these pillars who still have a modernity. I listened to them a lot too. »On some tracks, we also think of Anne Sylvestre or William Sheller, inspirations just as claimed and explaining the nostalgic and melancholy tone emanating from the album.
“Asperities and something warm”
This impression is reinforced by the “old-fashioned” production of the opus, notably with a string quintet – two violins, a cello, a viola and a double bass – in the studio. “It was a chance to be able to do it, because it costs more than simple programming on computer, underlines the artist. I wrote the piano parts, then the strings and I started to write groped arrangements. It creates rough edges and something warm. “
The softness immediately imposes itself on the audience, envelopes and caresses from title to title – including the very beautiful Pretty things and May bells, performed in duet with Vanessa Paradis. In the frenzy and chaos of this comeback, it’s an album that is good for the soul.