Last call in Car 4
The French synth-pop group Mondial Toboggan have released a Wagon-Bar 1 (voiture 4) [Radio Edit] of their third single.
Second class, in full sunlight.
The third track from *Évasion*, “Wagon-Bar 1 (voiture 4) [Radio Edit]” (meaning Bar Car 4), is a musical postcard of the new French high-speed train that entered service in 1980. Instrumental synth-pop played on a analog synthesizers, with a French touch, in that old-fashioned style that has become the signature of Mondial Toboggan.
Car 4. The train speeds along, the scenery rushing by outside the window. We walk down the aisle to the bar car; that brief interlude spent standing between two stations, with a paper cup, lukewarm coffee, and the window rattling. Nothing is happening, and yet everything is there. It’s the innocence of a second-class journey, when taking the train was already an adventure.
A bar car with the sweetness and lightness of childhood; the one from setting off on vacation to visit grandparents or go to summer camp.
One thing is certain: we board it just as we step into a memory. The low light of late afternoon, the yellow ticket folded in our pocket, a face glimpsed on the opposite platform. The train never quite comes to a stop, and that’s just fine.
Next stop: nowhere. We stay on board.
About Mondial Toboggan
Illegitimate child of Jean-Michel Jarre, Jean-Jacques Perrey and François de Roubaix, Mondial Toboggan emerged out of a passion for vintage synthesizers and cassette recorders.
Led by Quentin-Gary Tashdjian and Corentin Kerdraon (aka nit signed to Record Makers), they developed a unique aesthetic: the music of tomorrow composed yesterday; a nostalgic synth-pop infused with disco, with hints of TV movie soundtracks.
