As soon as we arrived, we missed it already: in 2010, when the American Marc Anthony Thompson, called Chocolate Genius Inc, released his fourth album Swansongs (and his first for the French label No Format), he announced at the same time that It will be the last, at least under this name. Great loss to be deplored: as surely as discreetly, Marc Anthony Thompson had established himself over the years and records as an indispensable soul singer, faithful to the music he listened to teenager (Al Green, Sam Cooke and all the giants Of the genre), but above all preserved from the trap and the ease of imitation, retro revival. On form, this man with warm, subtle and often heartbreaking tone took all liberties, flirted with indie rock, embraced blues, folk and funk. After two albums under his baptismal name in the 80s, and three others as Chocolate Genius (Black Music in 1998, Godmusic in 2001, and Black Yankee Rock in 2005), the musician had signed with No Format And an aesthetic that suit him well) his swan song. That was what they feared. Rebound: Marc has taken his time (more than five years since Swansongs) but he is back, with a new album, Epilogue 1: Truth vs. Beauty, whose title already begins with a wink to non- End of Chocolate Genius Inc. The epilogue is the last part, the conclusion. But then, what is Epilogue 1? "The beginning of the end, we'll say," says Chocolate Genius. "I try to pretend that each of my albums was the last, but also the first." Epilogue 1: Truth vs Beauty is a new start. First, because Chocolate Genius turned the page of his trilogy of autobiographical albums, whose songs spoke of his family and the loss of loved ones. But most importantly, he found a new way to make his music. For the first time in his recording career, he did not enter the studio to record his album. Actually, he had not even planned to make an album. Between a few occupations (music writing for the theater, a tour as a guitarist in the Bruce Springsteen group, a move from New York to Northern California, where he opened a restaurant with his family), he composed songs Like a craft or a diary, and recorded them alone at home, playing all the instruments. It is these songs, twelve chosen from among thirty, that the No Format label has decided to go out. As such, in the truth and the beauty of the epiphany, the inspiration of the moment when they were fashioned. Recording is another story, another adventure. Some were born in New York State, and the others in Los Angeles, in Marc's childhood home, inherited from his deceased parents. "Finally, I returned to the process of my first songs when I was a teenager. I was recording on a tape recorder, in my mother's room, doing everything myself. And there, I found myself in the same place, in the same room, the difference is that the magneto had taken the form of a laptop. There is a piano, a fireplace, a floor, I know all that very well ... I slept in the room where I was recording. It was very comfortable, and the spirits of the family were with me. " Marc says it himself, Epilogue 1: Truth vs. Beauty is not a laminated record as an album of family photos. But it's still a very personal, intimate album. In the first few seconds, there is a sound of water: it is his faithful companion on all fours, since deceased, who drinks in the bathroom where Marc was recording. These twelve songs resemble what Chocolate Genius Inc has always done: that is, they resemble only him, and reflect the richness and variety of his inspiration. They hover and float between genres and references. Tiny already, it was like this: "I remember, when I was younger and singing all alone in my room, my mother was telling me," Who are you trying to be today? She did not laugh at me, it was her way of noticing that I was learning from others. " This fifth album is a meticulous blend of underground soul, rock tinkering, r'n'b low-fi, disarming folk of soft veiled. American music in the broad sense, like a panoramic photo taken by a full moon night, with a very long exposure time, a sensual concern for details, stamps and colors. It's a record to listen to when you get to the end of the road, parked on the beach facing the sea. Or in the small hours of the night for a night of insomnia. Or after love, when the feeling of exhaustion is confused with that of well-being. Chocolate Genius Inc. plays all instruments, but it also plays with light, with emotions,
