MERMONTE

Pop orchestrale

France

BIO

Behind Mermonte is Ghislain Fracapane, a young composer and multi-instrumentalist based in Rennes. Overflowing with creativity, he wanted to gather around him a group of musicians to give life, especially on stage, to a musical project of great amplitude. Originally composed of ten members, Mermonte will thus take shape – between a rock band and an orchestra – and will release in May 2012 a first eponymous album with unstoppable charm. The music, mostly instrumental, is as radiant as a summer sun and as invigorating as the sea air. Short (eight tracks, twenty-five minutes) but dense, the album arouses waves of critical enthusiasm and Mermonte finds himself directly propelled to the forefront of the French music scene.

Seasoned by the experience gained from numerous concerts in Europe and Canada, the band – now numbering eight members – re-emerges in 2014 with Audiorama, an album that crosses musical waters that are both more contrasted and more agitated. Sailing with equal panache through the calm and the storm, Mermonte here approaches the stormy post-rock of Godspeed You Black Emperor! or Mogwai without losing any of its pop flamboyance. Then comes the luminous and epic “Mouvement”, released in 2018 by Room Records, where the band, with a tightened line-up this time, is described as the “French Arcade Fire”. “Their new album ‘Variations’ will be released on 30 September (Room Recods / Idol)