Morgoran at Case à Chocs: for just a few seconds more

Unpublished article - Jonas Follonier

On Friday evening, Neuchâtel artist Morgoran presented his new EP In those few seconds in the form of a concert-vernissage at Case à Chocs. Songwriter of all his songs, the young man steeped in folk and French chanson performed his six new tracks and rearranged versions of his older songs, accompanied by excellent musicians. A look back at an evening with an ambience halfway between the living room and the bar. saloon.

The large concert hall at La Case à Chocs, well known to fans of contemporary music, has been completely redesigned. The audience—primarily from Neuchâtel—now finds a venue where armchairs, small coffee tables, standing areas, and a bar come together to create a space that complies with current health regulations. The atmosphere is cozy and intimate. Not quite as much as at the Salon du Bleu Café, whose charm comes from its opulent furnishings and kitschy decorations. La Case à Chocs shares this venue’s down-to-earth character, but it’s currently focusing on simplicity. It’s cosy, as everyone is quick to comment. The maximum capacity of one hundred people is almost reached.

A rediscovery of his repertoire

And while the concert hall’s layout was completely redesigned to meet the needs of the times—and to keep putting on concerts, and they’re absolutely right to do so!—Morgoran, the star of the evening, also took care to revise a good portion of the arrangements in his repertoire. Even though the five musicians accompanying him—his sister Amarande Léchot on bass, Michel Bertarionne on guitar, Raphaël Weber on guitar and mandolin, Mélody Génadinos on violin, and Marius Rivier on drums—are the ones heard on the CD. Clever, the artist. Morgoran, whose real name is Morgan Léchot, has clearly recognized that it’s more interesting for the audience to experience new and custom-made material than a reproduction of what’s already familiar.

Read also | Morgoran, the Bob Dylan of French-speaking Switzerland

And so we will not recognize Where I'm going the sky is gray and Lunar Airs, including songs from his debut EP Sketch (2017), when the first words ring out in the hall—the musical intro has been so skillfully embellished with a fresh touch. It’s worth noting that this is much less the case with the magnificent Wind without borders, which opens the recital by appealing to our memories as listeners. This ensures an element of surprise for the rest of the concert. The musical experience is a rich one for the audience; it is just as rich for the musicians. Guitarist Michel Bertarionne—to whom we owe the delightful little Dobro notes sprinkled throughout the work of his much younger musician friend—explained to me after the concert that during the four or five rehearsals for this opening, each member of the group was able to contribute their ideas very freely.

New titles

And then, of course, the new songs. A little gem, this second EP In those few seconds released yesterday! The six tracks on the new album maintain the balance between calmer songs and more rhythmic tracks. As in the first opus, too, melancholy and nature are not present, they're present. ubiquitous. But what makes In those few seconds —and which makes us want to have a few more—is definitely the aspect country more prominent than before. One track—undoubtedly one of the best, if not the best—combines nature, melancholy, and country music: I blew the ghost's mind. A superb title, and what a musical materialization of Western cinema!

Read also | Stereophonics put the heat on at Les Docks

The melodies and lyrics are particularly well crafted, and carry us away. The single I'm not coming, which is very well done, as evidenced by this. Also worth noting is this line, found somewhere on the EP: «You tend to silence.» A definition of music? And this one: «Tonight, the air is filled with our melancholy.» Here again, we can see the tunes music of Morgoran. You can also hear Cabrel without a south-western accent on The south of your body, performed yesterday as a duet with violinist Mélody Génadinos.

In short, you’ll agree: it’s a pleasure to stumble upon a concert that we really enjoy. And that’s essentially what happened to me and to many others—and what inspired me to write this article. Because let’s forget that silly cliché—«Everything interests me»—that we all try to convince ourselves of from time to time. What really interests us are guys like Morgoran. The ones who dare to pay tribute to Dylan at the end of a concert. Long live these artists!

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Morgoran
In those few seconds
Self-production
2020
6 titles

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Header image: © Bernard Léchot