COCOON: Wood Fire (POP): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Cocoon met, once is not usual, a huge success with its first album "My Friends All Died In A Plane Crash", carried by the hits that became planetary (rare for a French band except electro!), "Chupee", cute but with a two-way text... (read the interview to learn more) and 'On My Way'. The duo of Mark Daumail and Morgane Imbeaud, sailing in a silky pop tinged with folk (close to a Tom McRae - "Just Like Blood" period), has forged public and critical recognition thanks to its combined qualities of songwriting and interpretation, sometimes mutinous and sensitive.

However, life has made the two artistic souls separate after the second album released in 2010 ("Where The Oceans End") and a tour that led to the project being put on hold. Morgane took the opportunity to release her own projects and Mark to have a little boy with his wife. A birth is a joyful event that forever marks the parents' lives but in this case the joy was tinged with a strong anxiety since the child was born with a heart defect (today everything seems fortunately to have returned to normal). As for any parent living this kind of drama, the couple went through different phases between depression, hope... but he held on no matter what happens for this little being who was fighting for his (over)life. So what could be better for a singer than to exorcise his anguish, his moods, his fears... by expressing them in an album. This is what Mark did with "Welcome Home" (2016) dedicated to his child. Having contacted Morgane shortly before, she humbly declined the invitation, considering the project much too personal for her to interpret. Anyway, Mark took on the task of expressing it, taking over Cocoon on his own with Morgana's approval.

Three years later, the project returns with "Wood Fire" which is the counterpart of the previous one, this time being entirely dedicated to Mark's wife and more broadly to the couple(s). After these trials, from which one does not emerge entirely unscathed even if the couple appears to be united, the composer-performer wanted this album as a new beginning for this strengthened love story. However, he only dealt here with music, entrusting the texts to various authors he met during his travels, to whom he told his story. If we can see a certain impudence on his part, the result is surprisingly sober. The album is still bathed in a characteristic folk pop that is at once naive, nostalgic and soothing.

'Spark' opens the celebrations to enter into this story by blowing on the embers of a couple's life near extinction in order to rekindle the flame that will bring back the fire of love. However, the tone is relatively serious, not knowing whether this dream of rebirth will be possible. But very quickly, optimism returns with an explicit "Back To One" with female choirs (Clou and Philippine Poure) that bring a singular relief. The atmosphere is more joyful and makes you want to smile. The listener is thus rocked between a sweet melancholy ('Colors') and melodies filled with candor with the jumping 'Sun' with its very Californian melody. The authors (who write for Diplo, Rihanna, Beyoncé...) have adapted to the music composed by Mark and his experience. One of the most beautiful tracks on the album remains the silky folk ballad "I Got You" with keyboards and mellotron that bring more relief to Cocoon, a relatively new thing to be highlighted. The sometimes electronic rhythms and synthetic keys are more present than on previous albums without hurting, thus bringing a touch of modernity to the subject ('Shadow').

With this album, a kind of journey of a (re)conquest of the loved one, Mark Daumail could not have dreamt a better declaration of love for his wife. The lack of modesty fades in the face of the author's sincere approach and through his story, which will certainly affect many of our readers. Mark does not run after the hit of the moment but composes a music full of authenticity that feels good, tinged with a positive melancholy paradox, a measured joy because a loving relationship can be fragile. All this makes "Wood Fire" the album of this end of summer, or even more. - Official website

COCOON

WOOD FIRE

AUTRE LABEL

POP