There's something fascinating about observing the different musical undulations Myd has followed over time. We've seen him goofing off, incognito, on an all-inclusive cruise, dancing non-stop in the residential streets of L.A., or swaying during his CoMyd 19 livestreams ("best dance show" according to Billboard, ahead of Calvin Harris and Diplo), sometimes alone and suave, sometimes mocking and surrounded by guests.

This is a boy who knows how to make people laugh in many ways, without ever trying too hard, and who also knows how to make music in just about any situation. Born A Loser comes out on 30 April on Ed Banger/Because Music, and is his first album after a career spanning more than ten years and several EPs, including 2017's All Inclusive. It's a career that began with his friends in Club Cheval, while he was finishing his studies at Femis, at the very end of the 2000s: this prodigious quartet of DJs/producers from the north of France, which he formed with Sam Tiba, Panteros 666 and Canblaster, and with whom he is still very close, gave new impetus to the long history of French electro. He then moved on to Brodinski's Bromance label, produced hits for rappers SCH, Alonzo and Theophilus London on 'Can't stop' (feat. Kanye West), remixed Dua Lipa and Major Lazer, and was nominated for a 2018 César award for the soundtrack to Petit Paysan. Now a member of the Ed Banger stable, he works with youtuber Squeezie and indie icon Mac DeMarco alike, and is developing his distinctive image alongside photographer and director Alice Moitié. What we hear on this album is the logical synthesis of a decade of personal and sonic adventures: a journey between house, pop and the DIY workshop, bathed in an endless summer atmosphere that is both hedonistic and melancholy. 

From the Born A Loser album, we already knew 'Moving Men' with DeMarco, and before that the hit 'The Sun'. Born A Loser" is accompanied by a bad trip video in which Myd meets her wigged double in her own flat. "The song is an anthem dedicated to all the people who consider themselves losers. I share this feeling to give them all the strength they need to achieve great things", explains the artist, whose real name is Quentin Lepoutre. These "great things" are in fact these fourteen tracks, each of which seems to have been conceived for a particular mood at the end of spring, and which will no doubt fit in just as well with the different sequences of summer days. A multi-ambient landscape that veers between pure club anthems ("Born A Loser", "Together We Stand", "Now That We Found Love"...) and more delicate tunes ("We Are the Light", "Call Me", "Moving Men"). "Born A Loser has a singular structure," confides Myd. "There are pop songs, but there are also extreme biases in the production. I used to be a bit shy about that. This time round, I'm finishing the album with a lot of confidence. I've done it my own way and I'm really happy with it. It's really important to feel like you've done your job.

Born A Loser's layered sound is the result of a skilful stacking of layers and details, both vintage (we hear samples of Alton Ellis - Black Man's Pride or a very Californian acoustic guitar), but also concrete sounds (bicycle bells, real voices captured on a mobile phone, bird sounds...) and more contemporary colours. As well as DeMarco, Myd's American alter-ego, we hear the British singer Bakar on "Got It" and Uruguayan guitarist Juan Wauters on "Wether the Weather". On the sunny, melancholy "Let You Speak", Myd swaps his electro hat for an indie pop one, echoing the music of Metronomy. The track is accompanied by a superb video by American Dan Carr (Dissidence Prod).

It's an album that resembles its creator: sometimes rude, but always very inspired and welcoming. It's also an album that Myd describes as a project he has carried out in his own corner, drawing on his intimacy and his memory: "For me, the album punctuates one chapter more than it begins another," he explains. "I see inspiration as a lung. Sometimes it's necessary to take inspiration and knowledge from other people. Then there are times when you have to produce a lot and that's mainly how I worked on Born A Loser, on my own. I think the next chapter will see me collaborating with other people, and sharing more of what I've done."

For now, at least, we can savour this personal and generous album, where voices and grooves, joys and sorrows mingle, and where Myd reveals, behind the burlesque and the bizarre, a real gift for bittersweet hits.