The Power of Naivety à la Muddy Monk
Entitled “Bingo Paradis”, the new album from Muddy Monk aka sweetly voiced Guillaume Dietrich, is out now from Paris-based Half Awake Records. Following on from the discreetly experimental “Ultra Dramatic Kid” in 2020, it’s his third.
Neither the name – inspired partly by Muddy Waters and partly by the television series – nor the comic-book-style album title can prepare us for the actual music the Fribourg-raised Monk produces. It is neither a San Francisco-styled urban crime soundtrack nor is it the blues. Instead, Muddy Monk firmly believes in the power of simplicity, perhaps in a similar manner as Jonathan Richman might do, transported into modern day France/French Switzerland. “I’ve always loved writing naive ballads”, says the Monk. “With Bingo Paradis, I wanted to be more direct, while making my lyrics denser.” Recorded with the help of keyboardist Paul Prier (Christine and the Queens, Charlotte Gainsbourg), the largely electronically produced results are sweetly melodic, resolutely laid-back and totally anti-punk.
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