My Cultural Highlights: BLEU COLLAPSE by Johnny Tchekhova

In a way, there is nothing as wrong as reviewing a work by someone you know. First of all, you will not like it. Secondly, you will be insincere and say many things you do not actually believe. And yet here I am, writing about the latest LP by Johnny Tchekhova (an odd sounding moniker of the French musician Grégory Peltier whom I have the pleasure to know personally). My single excuse, and you have to agree it is a rather good one, is that I actually love this album.

Grégory Peltier used to be in a Strasbourg-based band called A Second of June who played the sort of post-punk music that veered from shoegaze to dream-pop to synth-pop with relative ease. Later, Grégory released the patchy but entertaining Loubok in 2019 (as Johnny Tchekhova), and now, four years later, there is the new album titled Bleu Collapse (official release is tomorrow). Only this time, Johnny Tchekhova is actually a full band with other members contributing both musically and instrumentally. But getting back to the main question of whether Bleu Collapse is actually any good... well, I heard the record back in March, and I still remember how the initial sense of trepidation went away fifteen seconds into "Eaux rouges". 

To me, this is Grégory's most focused album yet. The same elements that have defined his music up until this moment (synth-pop, shoegaze, dream pop) are still in place, only this time nothing sticks out and the experience is pleasingly homogenous. After the smooth, dreamy opener, we get to the first true highlight which is the vaguely menacing "Nos vies d'ailleurs" that sounds not unlike Cocteau Twins in their supreme 80s form. The effective "Dépossession" (distinguished by a stellar guitar break at the end) is followed by the slightly Eastern-tinged bass riff of "Toxycontine" that swirls and dances before transitioning to the frankly masterful chorus.

So far so good. Then, after a laid-back dream-pop instrumental, we bump into the undisputed high point of the album, the intense and intensely catchy "Ceci n'est pas une chanson française" where, quite simply, everything works. The softly pounding drums, the timeless vocal melodies, the seemingly inconspicuous synths. The vocal hook at the end of the 'Les sentiers battus mille fois...' line is inspired, and overall it is hard for me to imagine someone hearing this song and not being caught up in all its infectiousness. I am also partial to the two long-winding but quietly eventful songs that finish the album - the title song in particular has a beautiful build-up and one the LP's strongest choruses.

What distinguishes Johnny Tchekhova from many bands doing this kind of dreamy post-punk is that the songs actually feel eventful and substantial. They grow and develop. They evolve. And Bleu Collapse may well be Grégory Peltier's best work to date. The album is a focused, concerted effort that leaves the taste of a sweet explosion. I would say the sound of the album mirrors the colour of the album's cover. Only it is a deeper and a much more intense blue. The collapse is glorious, too, and stays with you long after the album stops playing.