Fans couldn’t have dreamed of anything better than this new Indochine album. Babel Babelthis is the 14th album of the legendary and still committed French group. It breaks a long recording silence of seven years.
Pop, rock and new wave hit the mark again on this dense and intense album of 17 synthetic and futuristic tracks. Indochine reconnects with the DNA that made its success. The group, founded in 1981, signed with a record company very quickly and experienced immediate triumph. The Adventurer is the hit of the summer of 1983.
In 43 years of career, the quintet, with an extraordinary longevity, has established itself as a sure bet in French rock. It has brought about a musical revolution and conquered a multi-generational audience with its titles as exhilarating as they are galloping. And above all, texts on gender equality, non-conformism and gender issues.
For this new album, the Parisians tackle this time the myth of the Tower of Babel, a biblical reflection on human vanity, transposed into a current world marked by conflicts. As proof, the song Babel Babel discusses the war in Ukraine, triggered by Russia’s invasion in 2022. And it begins with this sentence:“He was a king”. And this king is President Volodymyr Zelensky. A metaphor with the king who built the tower. But he, in his kingdom, is a little alone facing Putin.
It must be said that Nicola Sirkis’ origins have nourished his album. His father was born in Moldova at the time when it was part of the Soviet Union. He fled the genocides against the Jews to settle in France. Hence this title song of the album, crossed by a central theme: humanity which has difficulty in dialoguing.
From his consecration in the 80s to his decline in 1990 and his rebirth in 2000, singer Nicola Sirkis embodies the eternal youth of the French scene, despite his age.
At 65, he surprises with his flamboyant tone – sometimes on the verge of bombastic rock. And also, his hair creativity. Gone are the days of messy, falsely neglected raven black hair. Nicolas Sarkis now sports a blond hairstyle on stage. And that’s new for “The boy who dreams”. This symphonic song, with strings, is an exception. It is a pity that this album as a whole did not benefit from such refinement.
Indochine will give around thirty concerts in France starting in January 2025.
