Feu Follet - Le champ des morts / MC

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new-wave-psych

 Feu Follet is a brand new one-man band from Lorraine, France, which was formed by Alban Blaising to blend influences from the wave territory with those of the indie sector. It results in an unusual and fresh approach that revives old synthwave, new wave, darkwave patterns with the atmospheric means of vibrant post-rock and shoegaze. 
 While the title “Le Champ Des Morts” (the field of the dead) was inspired by the movies “The Killing Field” (1984, British drama about the regime of the Khmer Rouge) and “Živi i mrtvi“ (2007, Croatian horror film), it’s the individual song titles that really tell us something about Feu Follet’s bond to where it was born: They are inspired by Lorraine's rural and mysterious folklore with names of local places, legendary creatures from regional popular beliefs, old proverbs and popular expressions of regional language. After all, there’s a place in a forest in Lorraine which was named after a bloody battle in 1085, « Le Champ Des Morts ». 
 For the ten recordings of his debut album Blaising mainly used analog synthesizers, which made him realize an LP that is detached from 80s boundaries and formulas, free from the clinical sound of mediocre everyday synth acts. The guitars have a dream pop attitude in their morbid sound, and the repeated use of the vocoder gives this instrumental album a kind of post-rock vibe à la Mogwai circa 2003. The dead are very much alive, and they breathe.