“Pyromane” is the latest single by the Marseille-based artist Benjamin Quartz, and he is back with something incredibly special this time. “Pyromane” is an intimate song, much like sitting near a fire is. Its delicacy is delectable. It has a balance of sweetness and burning passion like a newly sparked fire of love. It has that unmistakable signature French romance in the vocals, but the instrumental has a lot of bossa nova and gypsy qualities, which is a match made in heaven, in my opinion.
The production is restrained, opening with delicate strings that contrast with the title “Pyromane” (Pyromaniac). Guitar and violin join upright bass and Brazilian percussion, energizing the track while keeping its poetic sensitivity. Hand claps and castanets in the end evoke Benjamin‘s image: a passionate dancer circling a new blaze.
Lyrically, Benjamin Quartz explores love’s dangerous obsessions through vivid fire metaphors. He sings of escaping disaster in the nick of time with his “Pyromane”. But the imagery gets darker still, as he describes being intoxicated by the carbon monoxide she breathes, he makes allusions to Shakespearean tragedies. In the bridge section, he describes her as an otherworldly being: half fire, half woman. She burns everything to forget.
“Pyromane” by Benjamin Quartz is an addictive poem of a song. It pays homage to the nuances of human emotions, especially the most complex one of all: Love, and those who wield it, the Pyromaniacs.