A real shock – The British band Muse brings back rock, pathos and grandiosity – music – culture

Matt Bellamy is one of the funniest conversation partners in rock. He is both the head and the lyrical voice of Muse. He has an extraordinary guitar technique and his piano fingers are as fast as the wind. He was forty in June, but he still looks like that rogue who just blew up the farewell of a woman in the clbad. Even though he lives now in Los Angeles, one does not look pale face.

It was in 2010, he says, and the words come out of his mouth like his piano arpeggios. It was purely a pleasure, drummer Dominic Howard and some friends after his appearance at the Coachella Festival in Los Angeles. "In fact, it should only last three months," he said, "but soon, I met my child's future mother (actress Kate Hudson, ed) and very soon a baby is born, that's how I've been attached to the city for at least eighteen years. "And he burst out laughing.

More electronic sounds

Bellamy is in London to talk about the band's new album. She calls herself "Simulation Theory" and sounds very differently from the seven drama albums collapsed in all the wild directions that preceded her. In addition to the first "Showbiz" of 1999, everyone was able to rank among the top of the world charts.

Now, the songs have become shorter, usually between three and four minutes. They are driven by hammering rhythms, sometimes almost disco – and it's not the guitar that dominates the sound, but the piano and all kinds of electronics, which is probably kind of networked with buttons. This is how we suddenly meet songs that could also be at home on a Sparks album. Elsewhere, one feels reminded of the dirtiest moments of Goldfrapp. "Propaganda" could come from Prince's pen and throat.

Muse is releasing an album full of singles – it's a real shock! Again Bellamy bursts out laughing happily. "We have not really started producing singles," he chuckles. "On the other hand, we made the conscious decision to put some of our reins and reduce our tendency to extend instrumental pbadages."

That's why he hardly had to change his method of composition: "I wrote as I always did. So, in the middle, Thought Contagion had two minutes of Rachmaninov, including the piano and the orchestra. When we finished, we had to admit that something like that did not fit with our plans. We just chased the Rachmaninoff. "

Muse is an excellent example of how belief and moral courage (and talent, of course) are sometimes more important than elegant dresses and an antenna for the climber. When, in the early years, the darkest group of Knellen left England and with its ruthlessly excited mixture, not at all parodic, there was no laughing matter, no one l? L? already done. dreamed of having to do with future millions of people. Progressive rock has not been in fashion since punk. Under Prog, we understood a style of rock that did not adhere to the model in three minutes composed of couplets, choruses and solos, but which consisted of compositions composed, often influenced by clbadical influences and a virtuoso technique. Muse has used these elements brilliantly without shame. Not to mention the huge concepts that underlie his words.

It's still the same with "Simulation Theory". It is the idea that you can imagine – well Bellamy – how it would be possible in the future to replicate the entire universe in a virtual simulation. The courage to stand up to the time, as Don Quixote did, deserves admiration – and has long deserved his reward. And we rarely make fun of prog today. A younger generation of prog groups has also spawned a younger generation of fans. The scene is rich, extensive and above all international enough to carry a thick monthly magazine with one-page interviews in the UK.

In this universe, Muse are in the same constellation as King Crimson, Yes and ELP. Of course, Muse will also be doing a world tour. "I'll play guitar again," Bellamy promises. "On stage, a guitar is definitely more fun than a piano."