This article was originally published by i-D France.
It’s the story of a French summer without end, the one we’ve always dreamed of but that ultimately never arrived. Almost as if to heal that wound, Myd came out with a track of consolation a few days ago, warmly entitled “The Sun.” It’s the first track off his new solo EP All Inclusive, which was released on October 13 on Ed Banger Records. The arrangements are sunny in nature, and a bit more analog in style than what we’re used to with the producer. “I became obsessed with the guitar — an instrument with which I’d never worked,” he confided to i-D. “I want to make luminous songs, [ones that are] solar and dancing. With ‘The Sun,’ I feel like I’ve gone all the way through this positive spirit.” A phosphorescent aura accompanies him despite several melancholic and dreamy eddies, perfectly captured by the Parisian composer, who describes them as bursts of his French heritage. “I’m a French producer, so there’s always a kind of melancholy in my songs. From Michel Berger to Daft Punk, France always produces romantic and melancholy sounds. That’s why foreigners envy us.”
As the title suggests, All Inclusive is a collection of images and songs. Its direction was entrusted to the photographer Alice Moitié, which signals the iconography that accompanies the book and the music video that the duo gave to us. “Artistically, we had the exact same vision. We loved working relentlessly to make this fun, bright vision [a reality].” That’s precisely the feeling this EP and its imagery convey. Alice Moitié documented Myd’s wanderings on a summer cruise. The video starts with Myd, going on with a spiel in English (with a downright cheeky French accent), talking to an imaginary journalist. He rambles on about the harshness of life, how we’ve lost our fundamental bearings, and the importance of returning to real things. This sort of voyage that’s introspective and a bit grotesque opens to the deck of a ship the size of a building. There, Myd becomes a pain in the ass to the staff, pushes children into the pool and dunks them underwater, nonchalantly takes fitness classes in the blazing sun, pees overboard, throws the middle finger to tourists who have the misfortune of passing his way, and starts brawls in the ship’s club before leaving on a Segway tour.
One could see this as a form of condescension, but the producer talks about this “choice” of vacation without varnish: “This ship could embody the horror of the fact that it represents mass tourism, offers all kinds of cheap activities and to the very first degree never leaves a free minute for contemplation. At the same time, there’s this guilty pleasure of the “all inclusive”: even if you hate it, you’re always content to have food and alcohol and little activities all day long. [In the end,] you forcibly accept it and disconnect.” So let’s try to disconnect too, and throw ourselves into the azure belly of this infernal cruise ship — with Myd, of course, contemplating the open sea in his birthday suit.