NATION, aka Guillaume Destot, released a first EP, Baltimore Rising, last October. While a second is planned for March 2018, Justfocus returns to this promising French artist.
To start the year off right, Justfocus goes fishing for new artists. And we start with Nation who is about to release an EP of 6 tracks next March. In the meantime, we come back to his first single, Baltimore Rising.
Future Soul
If the term Future Soul seems a little obscure to you, it has been very popular since 2010. More or less invented at the beginning by the British singer-songwriter Daley, it is a clever mix of Soul and RnB that today benefits in addition to even richer musical contributions such as pop, electro, dubstep, but also jazz or funk. Very often melancholic, Future Soul has largely poured on the airwaves over the last 5 years and enjoys a beautiful space of expression.
Baltimore Rising, the first single from Nation
But today we look at the work of Guillaume Destot, former leader of Vim Cortez, now known as the NATION project. With his single Baltimore Rising, he lays the foundations of a style that he reappropriates to add a French touch that makes the difference. Something held back and very relaxed at the same time. Sensitive, without sensitivity. Strong in emotion but not tearful. It's beautiful and touching!
Musically, it sounds a bit retro with some sounds in the 80's revival trend. Vocally, it's very in place, it vibrates. The timbre is warm and it flies easily in the treble, until this rhythmic break that stirs and runs, creating like a panic effect. At the revival, the theme becomes a little more dramatic with an electric guitar in the background that comes to scratch everything. A great success for this title!
Baltimore Rising, a committed single
But why this title? Is there a connection to the events in Baltimore in 2015?
Guillaume Destot answered our questions:
Yes completely, these events are the source of inspiration for this song.
Is it a tribute to Freddie Gray?
To Freddy Gray, but also to the African-American community of Baltimore, to its suffering and dignity in response to this violence. These events deeply touched and disturbed me, such as that of Trayvor Martin in 2012, Eric Garner in 2015…
Is this a claim? Support?
I have no particular demands, although I join of course those of the Black Lives Matter movement. It would not be my place anyway, I am an outside observer, but I cannot allow myself the right to speak for the people directly concerned, who suffer from it on a daily basis and in the first degree. That is why I do not speak of it in a 'demanding' way, but poetic, let us say, indirect.
The lyrics alternate between several points of view, several voices. The starting point of view is that of a cop who finds himself facing the demonstrators, and who realizes that he must forget his humanity, drop it like a suit if he wants to obey orders. So he doesn't really know what to do. And the other voices are those of the protesters, the community, who seek courage and comfort in the face of adversity. And then there is my voice of mine that is heard, to express this strange mourning, which is not mine, and which is still mine.
What is your opinion on the worrying return of "segregation" in the United States? How do you feel involved?
Segregation has never disappeared, it has simply found itself more in the media in recent years, and of course, Trump's rise to power has disinhibited extremist racist groups. For several years, including Rudy Giuliani's tenure in New York, the American police also seem to allow themselves more violence than before. I remember very well the Rodney King case, and the riots that followed the acquittal of the police officers who beat him. At the time it had already disturbed me a lot, so it is a subject that has been important to me for a long time.
My involvement is emotional and artistic: this song is a testimony of how I feel about this situation, and my way of responding to it is by absorbing it into my imagination, to talk about it in my words. It is above all a way to exorcise something painful.
Sublime project when you perceive the meaning and depth !!!
This first single is accompanied by another title: Computer Purple
Here, it is more of a love story on an almost psychedelic background that could be set in a universe close to Blade Runner. Something unreal and fictional emerges from the lyrics; there is a completely futuristic and disturbing poetry that makes Computer Purple completely mesmerizing.
See you next March to discover the rest of NATION's musical adventure.
In the meantime find him on social networks:
