Somewhere between Sainte Hélène, France and the west coast of Ireland, a guy named Charly sat down and wrote five songs about what happens when you come back from a place that made you feel something. The EP is called “Forever at Home,” it came out January 30, 2026, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a solo acoustic project born out of the punk scene — stripped to the studs, no production tricks, no safety net, but fueled by honesty and love.
The five tracks were written in the summer of 2025, following a trip to Ireland earlier that year. In Charly’s own words: “That journey reminded me that there will always be places in the world where we can feel at ease, but that the most important one is where we are surrounded by the people we love.”
That’s the thread running through all of it, resulting in a plain admission that the world doesn’t feel great and neither do you, sometimes.
He describes the songs as being about “accepting feeling unwell in a world that is unwell, without getting lost in idealized dreams, but instead trying to live each moment fully.” He calls the whole thing “a little home-made therapy.”
And home-made is the word. Charly wrote, recorded, and performed everything himself. Mixing and mastering came from Fabien Revillet, with artwork handled by Yoshi. That’s the crew. The record carries itself on that economy — no layers to hide behind, just voice and guitar doing what they can.
Charly has been kicking around the French punk scene for years, playing in several bands as a singer and guitarist before going solo acoustic. The shift makes sense if you trace the lineage. He’s a French guy who sings in English, and he’s spent a long time making peace with that. “I became interested in the language in high school, thanks to punk rock culture and bands like Nofx and Lagwagon, skate punk music,” he says. “A late interest that would give me a complex for a long time in my musical practice.”
That complex is something he talks about openly. Playing in punk bands as a frontman, he often found himself up against a language barrier. “It sometimes gave me impostor syndrome at parties or while writing songs. Never short of lyrical ideas, but needing support when it came to correcting my texts.”
He’s past that now, or at least past letting it stop him. “Today, I’ve learned to embrace this lack of practice and this ‘level of English.’ I try to do my best and I keep creating anyway, proudly embracing the label of ‘Charly, the French guy who sings in English.'” And then, quoting a friend of a friend who once clapped back at an English guy giving him grief: “My English is better than your French.”
There’s something fitting about a folk-punk record made by someone who never fully mastered the language he chose to sing in. It gives “Forever at Home” an unpolished honesty that a more technically fluent songwriter might sand down.
Charly has also spoken about why English, and not French, became his natural mode for songwriting. “I’ve been so deeply shaped by Anglo-Saxon music that singing in French never felt natural to me,” he says. “English is my choice of modesty, of sincerity, and its sound slips into my ears with a softness I’ve never quite found in my mother tongue.”
He adds: “I could have given in to impostor syndrome and refused to sing in English because of my shortcomings — but I don’t care. I love it.”
The records that built the folk in the punk — Charly’s foundational albums:
Words by Charly:
Frank Turner – “Love Ire & Song”
This is the album I would take with me to a desert island, even though in that specific case I’d have nothing to play it on. But I think just looking at the cover would bring all the songs back to me. This record smells of Ireland and nostalgia, a heart left beyond the seas — a guy raised on punk rock who managed to blend his folk influences into his music.
The Pogues – “Rum Sodomy & the Lash”
When you’re French and you talk about The Pogues, everyone thinks they know the band — but they only know the name! Shane accompanied me through depressive times and moments of deep sadness. He often helped me lift my head above the water by making beauty out of the ugliest parts of this world. It’s a bit like that old uncle who buys you a stout and gives you a reassuring pat on the back at a party.
Chuck Ragan – “Gold Country”
I listened to this album on repeat for several weeks when it came out, in 2009 I think. Far from Irish and English sounds, this one leans more toward country and bluegrass. Chuck plays in Hot Water Music and is a pillar of the international punk rock scene. I think he inspires in me a true passion for music — he comes across as someone who has never lost the flame inside.
Fionn Regan – “The End of History”
With the song “Bunker or Basement,” which is just beautiful. You don’t need to understand the lyrics to be moved by the music. The track unfolds in two parts, with subtle layers gradually added as it progresses — a bit like life itself: a main thread, with things coming and going. Life and death, love and hate — a perfect but fragile balance.
Tony Sly & Joey Cape – “Acoustic”
I mostly listened to Tony Sly’s songs on this split, even though Joey Cape’s are beautiful too. But it’s kind of like being “team mayonnaise” or “team ketchup.”
Tony Sly’s songs make me want to fall in love every single day. The music is simple and delivered through his incredibly piercing voice.
