JB Dunckel – Zombie Park

Album: Carbon

Label : Prototyp Recording
© 2022 Prototyp Recording

After releasing a beautiful album that plays with electronic sounds alongside Jonathan Fitoussi (Mirages, 2019) and a soundtrack that almost won him a César award (for Francois Ozon’s Summer of 85 in 2020), Jean-Benoît Dunckel has returned with Carbon, a more “earthy” approach to music.

The title sounds almost radical when Dunckel, an ex-physics teacher, explains the meaning behind it (“carbon is the most important thing in our bodies and in our lives, but we’re hardly aware of it”). Nonetheless, this is actually a rather dreamy, feel-good pop album.

Dunckel gives himself creative freedom here, switching at leisure between magnetic pop-rock (Spark), melancholic post-punk (Corporate Sunset), cosmic acoustic guitar (Sex UFO) and 70’s ritornello (Shogun) before returning to brighter, more contemplative moods with Space, featuring Heather D’Angelo from Au Revoir Simone.

This is a beautiful, innocent album; one that will make you want to lie under the stars and daydream all summer long, though somehow, it’s equally perfect for times when you want to bury your head in your duvet and reminisce about a lost love.

© Smaël Bouaici/Qobuz