“Every door I open might be a window”
Every once in a while comes a piece of art and, perhaps its creator, that changes the way we think.
Mcbaise’s new LP, Wrongderful, is one such piece of art and in short, if the sound of French psychedelic yacht rock interests you, I hope you’ve already found this incredible album, the fourth LP by the London-based musician and illustrator also known as mcbess.
There’s so much psychedelic goodness on this album in the form of dreamy synths, tasteful guitar solos, filthy bass lines and satirical and mysterious lyricism.
That’s the gist of my review, but here’s the long explanation:
As consumers of art, we make others’ creations our own. Often we ascribe meanings to things that may or may not have been intended.
And that’s OK.
When I had the chance to interview mcbaise three years ago, I asked him about some lyrics and their potential meaning and he mentioned wanting to give people the space to have their own associations with his art.
I think that intention is apparent throughout this album.
Screenshot, with close captioning, from the music video “Alice.”
“The shift in colors you know moves me from inside” is a line, and specifically that word phrasing pops up in the close-captioning on the YouTube video for “Alice,” the album’s biggest splash and display of mcbaise/mcbess’ powers as a cross-discipline musician, illustrator and clothing designer.
Not only did he illustrate the music video (though the animation was left up to Nicolas Macia), but he designed a clothing line for his associated Dudes, along with collaborating with a toy maker in creating a collectible vinyl toy.
“Alice” is more than a song, a music video, or the inspiration for a clothing line.
But, yeah, those lyrics.
Is mcbaise actually singing, as has been suggested to me by my wife, “Shitting colors you know moves me from inside.”
I believe that the artist, singing in his sexy French-English accent, here, and in many other places, might actually have wanted there to ambiguity about his choice of words.
Maybe he is singing what appears in the close-captioning for the associated music video about a female hiker that accidentally trips on psychedelic mushrooms. But the satirical mcbaise I’ve gotten to know through his music, art and podcasts is definitely OK with me hearing what I want to hear.
AND ALICE IS DEFINITELY SHITTING COLORS.
I’d already listened to four of the 10 songs on the album via singles releases by the time Wrongderful was dropped last November.
“TTM,” his collaboration with 1000GUAPO was the first to be released on Valentine’s Day last year. It’s a song about bromance, and I wrote about that here.
“Alice” was the second release last May. I wrote a bit about it here. I’ll add a point I failed to make previously in the rush to get something written about it — that the song and music video, like many music videos, are two separate pieces of art. The song may work perfectly with the video and feed into that separate storyline of the accidental day tripper, but it can appreciated on its own terms and take on different meaning away from the visuals.
“Cold Cuts” is one of the latest collaborations with Muthi, the project led by Matt Christensen but also involving mcbaise aka Matthieu Bessudo (aka Mcbess/mcbaise). Christensen’s second LP, Witchcraft, also dropped shortly after Wrongderful. I like “Cold Cuts” even if I feel the other three collaborations in “Cobra,” “Power Boat,” and “Angeline,” are stronger pieces.
I’ve listened to Wrongderful an uncountable number of times and never find myself skipping tracks, unless I’m intentionally seeking a specific song.
“Moon” was the last single to drop ahead of the album release last September.
The mysterious lyrics, slap bass line and synths on this song are genius and I wrote more about it here.
“I almost forgot
what’s laying on the floor
used to belong to something”
I was night driving on the eve of Wrongderful’s release when it dawned on me it was already available on streaming services, because London is 7 hours ahead of Minneapolis.
As I allowed the album to play, I was very much anticipating its instrumental. There is one on each of his first three LPs, and they all rip. In the back of my mind, I already knew what song it would be, since Mcbaise had dropped a very cool music video for “Notes Tordues” a few years before.
That version is three minutes long, and the version on the album is nearly six minutes, but this was not a detail I picked up on that night. No, the main thing I noticed is there were words, and there was not another song on the album without words.
I held back any disappointment and thought about another thing the artist told me three years before, that vocals are just another instrument.
And, indeed, something changed with this instrumental, something profound.
It started out in the video above as a sexy, jam session with synthy layers of mcbaise playing with a new toy, a keyboard that allows him to bend notes over the filthiest bass playing he does on the LP.
And who knows what he intended or how that may have evolved with “Notes tordues” which translates to “twisted notes.”
Were those twisted notes just alliteration of bending the sounds on his new keyboard? Or did he always intend to use words to take that notion to a deeper, darker place?
There’s two stanzas of poetry inside this song, the first occupying the original composition featured on the video from a few years back.
The second stanza includes several incredible verses that cut me like a blood oath — I would list them, but it’s too personal and has become moreso with time. I’ll reveal that the verse at the top of this article caused me to ponder and reconsider its meaning repeatedly over the last six months.
I wouldn’t want this song any other way — without words — at the expense of me getting a fourth mcbaise instrumental. Or maybe it still is an instrumental, and the vocals are just another instrument for which to bounce off bass and guitar phrases.
Another favorite on the LP is “Stoney,” written with a jingle-like chorus about a bear that likes to get high.
I picked up one of these trays at the Dudes store in London a few years ago. It’s come in handy.
The song illustrates the rabbit hole you find yourself down with mcbaise/mcbess. Stoney, a cartoon bear, has been featured on a number of clothing and merch items at the Dudes for years. He’s the Dudes’ mascot.
It’s a funky, chill song with more funky bass and spacey synths, yet it’s so much more.
Listen, I don’t know where I’d rank Wrongderful among mcbaise’s body of work today, tomorrow or six years from now.
Or whether “Notes tordues” will always be my soul song — but it is right now. King Gizzard’s “Slow Jam One” held that place for a number of years.
If you didn’t already get your hands on the first pressing of Wrongderful, it could be too late. Alas, there’s always Discogs — or my giveaway. You’ll have to go to my Instagram page to participate.
The album was available on vinyl but the first pressing has already sold out. I would expect another pressing at some point — he recently released a third pressing of this third LP, Tubes, and it included new album artwork from Ugo Gattoni.
And that’s the way Bessudo thinks. Even an additional vinyl pressing is an opportunity for new artwork.
I’m learning to let things resonate; Give my brain time to wrap itself around things.
It’s why I intentionally put off writing this review for six months.