2024 Repress

UPC: 827170460461

A1. Hands On Hips A2. Tout Doux A3. Blue Curtain A4. Sleeper Train A5. Quietude A6. Qui Sait
B1. Matin B2. Up To The Sky B3. Under The Lake B4. Furioso B5. La Ligne B6. Piano Box B7. Divine


Divine : The immobile odyssey.
For a long time before the success of Nôze led him to discover the rest of the world, Ezechiel Pailhès remained a prophet in: his country. For a long time as well, he worked on creating what became his first solo album, waiting for the right moment when he could no longer contain all the melodies that populate this 14-leg epic. A voyage in a free world, where creation knows no formal constraints, where everything mutates according to the determined inspiration of the moment. Transforming the original pieces without knowing in advance how they will end up, disguising the instruments so that they are mistaken for others, nothing frightens this intrepid sailor whose ship is nevertheless securely moored at home, Ezechiel composes and plays at home in Paris. Sole master on board, the tinkerer illusionist prepares his piano with mechanic's tools (scotch tape, rubber, percussion, wooden claves adrift over the strings), obtaining instruments that do not sound where we expect them. This adventure is, he says, a fiction he wants to believe in.The result is equal to the creator and his character.14 captivating melodies like siren songs, sometimes dressed in a simple lala or lyrics by David Lafore, 14 ports of call offering a sweetness that is at times extremely melancholy, 14 pieces whose implacable refrains take root the first time you listen to them. This is indeed a divine crossing people with wide-ranging references (Serge Regianni, D Angelo, Bernard Hermann, Timber Timbre, Stevie Wonder but also Henri Duparc, Moondog, Keith Jarett or Tony Benett ) that we are invited to share with Ezechiel whose career as a pianist has evolved on the stages where he has been performing for years as a duo with Nicolas Sfintescu (Nôze).
A succession of landscapes, of cinematographic images, some of the pieces were composed for movies and remained at the dock when others made their way to the silver screen (Bancs Publics co-written with David Lafore for Denis Podalydès )… A voyage that successively makes you want to dance, to dream, simply to listen the way you gaze at the horizon seated on the deck of a sailboat. There is the heady sailors' nostalgic longing (Quiétude, inspired by a sonnet of W. Shakespeare ) but also their cheerfulness, their lightness, the festive nature of the ports where things swing and the emotion of the infinite contemplated, the heart stirred by the swell. Divine is the companion for all trips, the disk you take to the deserted island and to the loft in Berlin, the disk that you play constantly without tiring of it because each listening reveals places you were unaware of, sounds that had not yet been discovered, because it thrills music lovers. Divine is the road songs that you want to share with your pals, but whose story you keep to yourself, this song reminds me of this, another takes me there. With the top up or down.
And you embark without resistance, Ezechiel is at the helm, you can travel calmly.
More

Genre: Alternative, Electronic, Piano Solo

Tracklist CD:
01. Unless - 02. Piccolo - 03. Sway - 04. Almost There (Piano Version) - 05. Ventas Rumba - 06.
Pianovado - 07. La ligne (Modular Version) - 08. Opus 53 - 09. Eclair - 10. Flat Feet - 11. La valse
des singes - 12. Louanges - 13. Fly Finger - 14. Ferveur

Short Info:
With his new instrumental album Ventas Rumba, the French composer (and singer) returns to his signature instrument, the piano, blending it with warm synth tones. This album represents a "return to his roots ", allowing Ezéchiel Pailhès to reinvent himself in a seamless way while still exploring ballads and ritornellos, halfway between light-heartedness and melancholy. Ezéchiel Pailhès has been meaning to write a solo piano album for as long as he can remember. Hardly surprising, of course, for this academically-trained pianist, brought up on classical music and then studied jazz. Yet, since his 2001 debut with the electro-pop duo Nôze, and his subsequent four albums, the artist had constantly postponed this project that was so close to his heart. Then in 2022, just as he was getting ready to start producing an album of new songs, this long-standing aim finally materialized.
The melodies he wrote seemed to stand on their own naturally, spurring him on to compose this series of fourteen tracks, recorded in sessions split between France and Latvia.
A new piano: the Una Corda
Ezéchiel wanted this project dedicated to the piano to begin a new narrative, to explore new instrumental terrain and new tones, something far removed from the familiar piano he has been playing all his life. He opted for the Una Corda piano, designed by David Klavins, a groundbreaking instrument builder renowned for his distinctive pianos with vertical shapes and frames.

The Una Corda, created in 2014, is an upright piano with a single string per note (unlike three strings on traditional pianos). Enticed by the "crystalline and unique" tones of this instrument, which is hard to find in France, Ezéchiel travelled to Kuldiga, Latvia (where David Klavins set up his workshops and studios), to record the first part of the album. Although the title of the album may initially conjure up images of a distant, sensual dance, the reality is quite different. Ventas Rumba indeed refers to the waterfall and rapids (in Latvian: rumba) of the river Ventas, which runs near this small village in the western part of the country. Ezéchiel chose to blur the lines, as the sound and musicality of the title likely evoke both his short stay in the Baltic country, and also a form of distant exotic imagery perfectly in tune with his own mischievous wit. Tracks as short stories

Back in France, Ezéchiel enhanced the first tracks recorded in Kuldiga with subtle synth tone layers, and added other tracks composed and recorded at his Montreuil studio. The album reflects a deliberate and sensitive orchestration of piano, synth keyboards and digital effects, as he puts it: "playing to erase the differences between the tones of the various instruments", as if each instrument's texture echoed the others. According to Ezéchiel, you can listen to Ventas Rumba as you would leaf through "a collection of short stories", through compositions that rarely exceed three minutes and evoke figures of movement, lightness, curves or modulation, such as "La ligne", "La valse des singes" or "Fly Finger". Others more seriously relate to a kind of spirituality, which quietly infuses such different tracks as "Ferveur", "Éclair" and "Louanges". Ezéchiel adds: “I’m by no means religious, but I like what God has managed to get musicians to achieve (laughs)". "Louanges", for instance, despite its electronic edge, "refers to Olivier Messiaen, a very devout composer who I greatly admire". Other tracks are directly inspired by the classical music he listens to on a daily basis. For example, Chopin's “8th Nocturne” formed the backdrop of “Pianovado”. Likewise, the harmonic structure of Beethoven's “Waldstein Sonata No. 21” inspired “Opus 53”. Aside from these multiple references and inspirations, which quickly recede behind a style that is uniquely his, Ezéchiel Pailhès keeps exploring ideas already found on his first solo albums, this time in an instrumental format, undoubtedly purer, fostering an imaginary world that evokes the shapes and themes of ballads, ritornellos, light-heartedness, passing time, reverie or a universal subdued melancholy. More

Special remarks : LP Vinyl incl. printed inner sleeve

Tracklist LP:
A1. Dors-tu ? - A2. Regard en arrière - A3. Mélopée - A4. L’attente - A5. Elégie - B1. Prélude -
B2. La fille de la nuit - B3. Ni toi, ni moi - B4. Le beau jour - B5. Opaline - B6. Tant que mes yeux

Short Info:
On his fourth solo album, much as in Oh! (2020), the French composer, pianist and vocalist follows his
ongoing exploration of the crossroads between poetry and songs, piano and synth, old-time verses
and contemporary sounds. Inspired by the rhythms, effects and speech patterns of urban music, he
also delivers, with a warm and moving voice, the texts of three poetesses from the past.
Since 2013, Ezéchiel Pailhès has been crafting a unique French synth pop. On his first three albums,
he switched between songs inspired by poetry, instrumental ballads and electronica with hummed
choruses. This latest record is a collection of eleven new songs, two of which he wrote: "Opaline" and
"Ni toi, ni moi" (neither you nor me). The others are adaptations of poems written in the 16th, 18th and
19th centuries by French poetesses Louise Labé (1524-1566), Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-
1859) and Renée Vivien (1877-1909).
Poetesses from the past...
From classical music to songs, poetry adaptation is an old French tradition. "My universe has always
embraced the musicality of this literary genre," the artist recalls. He actually started this project in 2017
with poems and sonnets by William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, Victor Hugo and above all Marceline
Desbordes-Valmore, who can be heard again on songs such as "Dors-tu?" (Are you sleeping?),
"Élégie" or "L'attente" (The wait). A figure of romanticism, the author left her mark on the early 19th
century through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, particularly praised by Balzac, and
apparently a decisive influence on Verlaine and Baudelaire. "Marceline's poetry is very musical," says
Ezéchiel admiringly. "Her use of rhythm and repetition sounds great and takes on a new perspective
when set to music. In fact, she wrote some of her texts with singing in mind.”
“Ces longs secrets dont l'amour nous accuse,
Viens-tu les rompre en songe à mes genoux ?
Dors-tu, ma vie ! ou rêves-tu de moi ?”
“These long secrets for which love accuses us,
Do you come to my knees to break them in a dream?
Are you sleeping, my life! or do you dream of me”
(“Dors-tu ?”, after “Les pleurs” (the tears), 1833)
Besides her, we find the more famous, and rebellious, Renée Vivien, whose texts inspired three
songs, "Regard en arrière" (Looking backwards), "Mélopée" (Melopoeia) and "La fille de la nuit" (The
night girl). Sometimes nicknamed "Sapho 1900", this figure of lesbian culture and, more broadly, of
female genius, combined in her work the themes of desire, dreams, melancholy and the relationship
with nature.
“Ta forme est un éclair
Ton sourire est l’instant
Tu fuis, lorsque l’appel
T’implore, ô mon Désir !”
"Your shape is a spark of lightning
Your smile, the very moment
You flee, when the calling
Begs you, O my Desire!"
(After “Parle-moi, de ta voix pareille à l’eau courante” (Speak to me, with a voice like flowing waters)
and “Ta forme est un éclair” (Your shape is a spark of lightning), Renée Vivien, 1901)
Lastly, with "Tant que mes yeux" (As long as my eyes), Ezéchiel was inspired by a 1555 poem by
Renaissance poet Louise Labé, whose main topic explored female love, physical and spiritual desire,
and the torments and pains they generate.
" At the start of the project ", Ezéchiel continues, " I was interested in many poets, men and women,
past and present, before my selection was narrowed down to these three female authors. Their works,
often written in difficult or secret conditions, express a raging romanticism, a passionate soul, fuelled
by desperate and tormented love. I found it interesting, as a man coming from another world and time,
to face this otherness, to trade viewpoints. Obviously, I could loudly claim that the album was the
result of a concept, that it reflects today's world, and that it allows me to explore the notion of gender,
giving visibility to the work of a few women, while at the same time pairing these ancient texts with a
more modern and rhythmic music, and obviously, there is some truth in that. But more than anything, I
wanted to serve the text itself, to express the emotion and connection I felt with these works.”
Today's rhythms and prosody...
Ezéchiel Pailhès combines texts from French literature with electronic music, its effects and rhythms,
as well as a form of scansion that echoes rap, R&B or the current fusion between hip hop and pop,
which is part of our musical background and that of younger generations. "I wanted to cross-reference
texts from the beginning of the century with this type of music. I wanted to use today’s techniques to
tell the tale of different daily lives and experiences.
The album is thus marked by contemporary electronic orchestrations, in which he drops his favourite
instrument, the piano, and his digital collage technique to use more extensive synth melodies,
enhanced by drum machines, bringing a gentle and bright vibe to the romantic texts. Lastly, we can
hear slight digital tones of Auto-Tune, which Ezéchiel uses sparingly and inventively.

Beyond its sophistication, the term "melopoeia" means a "sung declamation", a "recitative song",
sometimes interpreted in a monotonous way. On this album, it could also refer to a sense of phrasing,
which does not come from rap, but rather from jazz, Ezéchiel's first love. " In the past, I tried to hide
my jazz culture, but it naturally came back on this new album, as can be heard, for instance, in Regard
en arrière.” With its verses anchored in our literary memory, the following track "Mélopée", perfectly
illustrates the album's vision. It manages to transcend eras, mixing past romanticism with a modern
prosody, fuelled by the nonchalance of hip hop and the warm chords of jazz.
“Qu’un hasard guide enfin mon désespoir tranquille
Vers l’eau d’une oasis ou les berges d’une île,
Où je puisse dormir, mon voyage accompli,
Dans la sécurité profonde de l’oubli”
"May chance guide my quiet sorrow, at last
To the water of an oasis, the shores of an island,
Where I may sleep, having traveled my way,
In the safe depths of oblivion".
(After “Sillages” (Trails), René Vivien, 1908) More

Special remarks : CD Digipack

Tracklist CD:
01. Dors-tu ? - 02. Regard en arrière - 03. Mélopée - 04. L’attente - 05. Elégie - 06. Prélude - 07.
La fille de la nuit - 08. Ni toi, ni moi - 09. Le beau jour - 10. Opaline - 11. Tant que mes yeux

Short Info:
On his fourth solo album, much as in Oh! (2020), the French composer, pianist and vocalist follows his
ongoing exploration of the crossroads between poetry and songs, piano and synth, old-time verses
and contemporary sounds. Inspired by the rhythms, effects and speech patterns of urban music, he
also delivers, with a warm and moving voice, the texts of three poetesses from the past.
Since 2013, Ezéchiel Pailhès has been crafting a unique French synth pop. On his first three albums,
he switched between songs inspired by poetry, instrumental ballads and electronica with hummed
choruses. This latest record is a collection of eleven new songs, two of which he wrote: "Opaline" and
"Ni toi, ni moi" (neither you nor me). The others are adaptations of poems written in the 16th, 18th and
19th centuries by French poetesses Louise Labé (1524-1566), Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-
1859) and Renée Vivien (1877-1909).
Poetesses from the past...
From classical music to songs, poetry adaptation is an old French tradition. "My universe has always
embraced the musicality of this literary genre," the artist recalls. He actually started this project in 2017
with poems and sonnets by William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, Victor Hugo and above all Marceline
Desbordes-Valmore, who can be heard again on songs such as "Dors-tu?" (Are you sleeping?),
"Élégie" or "L'attente" (The wait). A figure of romanticism, the author left her mark on the early 19th
century through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, particularly praised by Balzac, and
apparently a decisive influence on Verlaine and Baudelaire. "Marceline's poetry is very musical," says
Ezéchiel admiringly. "Her use of rhythm and repetition sounds great and takes on a new perspective
when set to music. In fact, she wrote some of her texts with singing in mind.”
“Ces longs secrets dont l'amour nous accuse,
Viens-tu les rompre en songe à mes genoux ?
Dors-tu, ma vie ! ou rêves-tu de moi ?”
“These long secrets for which love accuses us,
Do you come to my knees to break them in a dream?
Are you sleeping, my life! or do you dream of me”
(“Dors-tu ?”, after “Les pleurs” (the tears), 1833)
Besides her, we find the more famous, and rebellious, Renée Vivien, whose texts inspired three
songs, "Regard en arrière" (Looking backwards), "Mélopée" (Melopoeia) and "La fille de la nuit" (The
night girl). Sometimes nicknamed "Sapho 1900", this figure of lesbian culture and, more broadly, of
female genius, combined in her work the themes of desire, dreams, melancholy and the relationship
with nature.
“Ta forme est un éclair
Ton sourire est l’instant
Tu fuis, lorsque l’appel
T’implore, ô mon Désir !”
"Your shape is a spark of lightning
Your smile, the very moment
You flee, when the calling
Begs you, O my Desire!"
(After “Parle-moi, de ta voix pareille à l’eau courante” (Speak to me, with a voice like flowing waters)
and “Ta forme est un éclair” (Your shape is a spark of lightning), Renée Vivien, 1901)
Lastly, with "Tant que mes yeux" (As long as my eyes), Ezéchiel was inspired by a 1555 poem by
Renaissance poet Louise Labé, whose main topic explored female love, physical and spiritual desire,
and the torments and pains they generate.
" At the start of the project ", Ezéchiel continues, " I was interested in many poets, men and women,
past and present, before my selection was narrowed down to these three female authors. Their works,
often written in difficult or secret conditions, express a raging romanticism, a passionate soul, fuelled
by desperate and tormented love. I found it interesting, as a man coming from another world and time,
to face this otherness, to trade viewpoints. Obviously, I could loudly claim that the album was the
result of a concept, that it reflects today's world, and that it allows me to explore the notion of gender,
giving visibility to the work of a few women, while at the same time pairing these ancient texts with a
more modern and rhythmic music, and obviously, there is some truth in that. But more than anything, I
wanted to serve the text itself, to express the emotion and connection I felt with these works.”
Today's rhythms and prosody...
Ezéchiel Pailhès combines texts from French literature with electronic music, its effects and rhythms,
as well as a form of scansion that echoes rap, R&B or the current fusion between hip hop and pop,
which is part of our musical background and that of younger generations. "I wanted to cross-reference
texts from the beginning of the century with this type of music. I wanted to use today’s techniques to
tell the tale of different daily lives and experiences.
The album is thus marked by contemporary electronic orchestrations, in which he drops his favourite
instrument, the piano, and his digital collage technique to use more extensive synth melodies,
enhanced by drum machines, bringing a gentle and bright vibe to the romantic texts. Lastly, we can
hear slight digital tones of Auto-Tune, which Ezéchiel uses sparingly and inventively.

Beyond its sophistication, the term "melopoeia" means a "sung declamation", a "recitative song",
sometimes interpreted in a monotonous way. On this album, it could also refer to a sense of phrasing,
which does not come from rap, but rather from jazz, Ezéchiel's first love. " In the past, I tried to hide
my jazz culture, but it naturally came back on this new album, as can be heard, for instance, in Regard
en arrière.” With its verses anchored in our literary memory, the following track "Mélopée", perfectly
illustrates the album's vision. It manages to transcend eras, mixing past romanticism with a modern
prosody, fuelled by the nonchalance of hip hop and the warm chords of jazz.
“Qu’un hasard guide enfin mon désespoir tranquille
Vers l’eau d’une oasis ou les berges d’une île,
Où je puisse dormir, mon voyage accompli,
Dans la sécurité profonde de l’oubli”
"May chance guide my quiet sorrow, at last
To the water of an oasis, the shores of an island,
Where I may sleep, having traveled my way,
In the safe depths of oblivion".
(After “Sillages” (Trails), René Vivien, 1908) More

CD Digipack - - The new 3rd Solo Album by Ezechiel Pailhes !

Genre: Alternative, French Song

Tracklist CD:

01. J'aimerais tant - 02. Bien certain - 03. Oh! Pourquoi te cacher? - 04. Constellation - 05. Sans l'oublier - 06. Wolf 359 - 07. La sincère - 08. Almost there - 09. Tu te rappelleras - 10. Cakewalk - 11. J'avais froid

On his third solo album, following the success of "Éternel été", the founder of the electro duo Nôze is exploring, through piano and synths, the encounter between poetry and song. In this new work he has set to music verses by William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Pablo Neruda and on three songs, those of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a pioneer of romanticism who notably influenced Verlaine and Baudelaire.

But what does this Oh !, giving its title to Ezéchiel Pailhès' third solo album, stand for? Is it an Oh ! of surprise, admiration or pain? "It is rather the Oh ! found in romantic poetry" says the French composer and singer with his deep and sweet voice. "An interjection that refers to a form of lament", even though it can convey other emotions such as complaint, nostalgia, a sad delight or a longed-for solace.

In Tout va bien, his previous album released in 2017, Ezéchiel Pailhès had set two Shakespeare sonnets to music. One of them, "Eternal été" has become a great success, thanks to its lines tinged with spleen and bliss. "Poetry, and its musicality, have always been part of my universe. For this new album, I therefore wanted to explore further the adaptation of poems into songs. "Bien Certain" is, once again, taken from William Shakespeare. "Tu te rappelleras" comes from Pablo Neruda's collection La centaine d'amour. "Oh ! Pourquoi te cacher ?" is from Victor Hugo. As for "Sans l'oublier", "La sincère" and "J'avais froid", they were all written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th century French poetess, still fairly unknown".

With Oh !, Ezechiel Pailhès has become more of a singer than ever before, through seven songs and four instrumental compositions, with intimate and warm modulations, carried by hypnotic piano melodies, instruments with unusual timbre and a subtle electronic production that recalls his past productions with his former duo Nôze.

"I wanted to expand my music further into songs" Ezéchiel adds, "to work more with my voice as a solo instrument and to limit the overlapping of voices and choirs found in my previous records". Produced in his Montreuil home studio, Oh ! is nevertheless imbued with an emotion found in his previous albums, close to 'saudade' or a slight melancholy, sometimes enhanced by chosen texts that evoke the disappointment of love, the longing, the distance between two people, or even men's weakness. "These poems evoke themes that may seem far from the concerns of our times. Yet, they are timeless and eternal; they manage to convey emotions that can often be difficult to say or write."

Among the texts chosen for this new album, the verses of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) are on a par with William Shakespeare's sonnets or Pablo Neruda's poem found on the same record:

Although less known today than her male counterparts, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore marked her times and the Romantic movement through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, which Balzac admired, and whose influence seems to have been decisive on Verlaine and Baudelaire.

"Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's poetry is highly musical," says Ezéchiel with admiration. "Her artistry with rhythm and repetition sounds very good and takes on a new dimension when set to music. She even meant for some of her texts to become songs"

From classical to pop music, the adaptation of poetry is part of a long tradition in France. "Great classical composers of the early 20th century such as Fauré, Poulenc or Duparc, who influenced me, had already tackled poets. On the album, songs like "La sincère" or "Tu te rappelleras" are probably closer to the way Serge Gainsbourg or Serge Reggiani approached poetry than Léo Ferré who is usually referred to in this regard".

Lastly, "Constellation", "Wolf 359", "Almost there" and "Cakewalk", the four instrumental tracks on the album on which a sung or whispered voice sometimes appears, explore an inspiration close to previous albums, mixing piano, prepared piano (various objects are placed between the strings to transform its timbre), synthesiser, clavietta (a kind of melodica), not to forget a few collages and digital processes.
Ballads with a cinematographic mood that respond in an abstract and dreamlike way to the texts of great poets...
More

Special remarks : LP Vinyl incl. Downloadcode

Genre: Alternative, French Song

Tracklist LP:

A1. J'aimerais tant - A2. Bien certain - A3. Oh! Pourquoi te cacher? - A4. Constellation - A5. Sans l'oublier - B1. Wolf 359 - B2. La sincère - B3. Almost there - B4. Tu te rappelleras - B5. Cakewalk - B6. J'avais froid

Short Info:

On his third solo album, following the success of "Éternel été", the founder of the electro duo Nôze is exploring, through piano and synths, the encounter between poetry and song. In this new work he has set to music verses by William Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Pablo Neruda and on three songs, those of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a pioneer of romanticism who notably influenced Verlaine and Baudelaire.

But what does this Oh !, giving its title to Ezéchiel Pailhès' third solo album, stand for? Is it an Oh ! of surprise, admiration or pain? "It is rather the Oh ! found in romantic poetry" says the French composer and singer with his deep and sweet voice. "An interjection that refers to a form of lament", even though it can convey other emotions such as complaint, nostalgia, a sad delight or a longed-for solace.

In Tout va bien, his previous album released in 2017, Ezéchiel Pailhès had set two Shakespeare sonnets to music. One of them, "Eternal été" has become a great success, thanks to its lines tinged with spleen and bliss. "Poetry, and its musicality, have always been part of my universe. For this new album, I therefore wanted to explore further the adaptation of poems into songs. "Bien Certain" is, once again, taken from William Shakespeare. "Tu te rappelleras" comes from Pablo Neruda's collection La centaine d'amour. "Oh ! Pourquoi te cacher ?" is from Victor Hugo. As for "Sans l'oublier", "La sincère" and "J'avais froid", they were all written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th century French poetess, still fairly unknown".

With Oh !, Ezechiel Pailhès has become more of a singer than ever before, through seven songs and four instrumental compositions, with intimate and warm modulations, carried by hypnotic piano melodies, instruments with unusual timbre and a subtle electronic production that recalls his past productions with his former duo Nôze.

"I wanted to expand my music further into songs" Ezéchiel adds, "to work more with my voice as a solo instrument and to limit the overlapping of voices and choirs found in my previous records". Produced in his Montreuil home studio, Oh ! is nevertheless imbued with an emotion found in his previous albums, close to 'saudade' or a slight melancholy, sometimes enhanced by chosen texts that evoke the disappointment of love, the longing, the distance between two people, or even men's weakness. "These poems evoke themes that may seem far from the concerns of our times. Yet, they are timeless and eternal; they manage to convey emotions that can often be difficult to say or write."

Among the texts chosen for this new album, the verses of the poet Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) are on a par with William Shakespeare's sonnets or Pablo Neruda's poem found on the same record:

" Sans l'oublier, on peut fuir ce qu'on aime.
On peut bannir son nom de ses discours,
Et, de l'absence implorant le secours,
Se dérober à ce maître suprême,
Sans l'oublier ! "
(…)
" Sans oublier une voix triste et tendre,
Oh ! que de jours j'ai vus naître et finir !
Je la redoute encore dans l'avenir :
C'est une voix que l'on cesse d'entendre,
Sans l'oublier ! "
"Without forgetting, we can run away from what we love.
Banish their name from our conversations,
And, begging the absence for consolation,
Escape the grip of this supreme master,
Without forgetting! "
(…)
"Without forgetting a sad and gentle voice,
Oh, how many days have I seen rise and fall!
And still I fear from the future:
A voice that can no longer be heard,
Without forgetting! "

Although less known today than her male counterparts, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore marked her times and the Romantic movement through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, which Balzac admired, and whose influence seems to have been decisive on Verlaine and Baudelaire.

"Marceline Desbordes-Valmore's poetry is highly musical," says Ezéchiel with admiration. "Her artistry with rhythm and repetition sounds very good and takes on a new dimension when set to music. She even meant for some of her texts to become songs"

From classical to pop music, the adaptation of poetry is part of a long tradition in France. "Great classical composers of the early 20th century such as Fauré, Poulenc or Duparc, who influenced me, had already tackled poets. On the album, songs like "La sincère" or "Tu te rappelleras" are probably closer to the way Serge Gainsbourg or Serge Reggiani approached poetry than Léo Ferré who is usually referred to in this regard".

Lastly, "Constellation", "Wolf 359", "Almost there" and "Cakewalk", the four instrumental tracks on the album on which a sung or whispered voice sometimes appears, explore an inspiration close to previous albums, mixing piano, prepared piano (various objects are placed between the strings to transform its timbre), synthesiser, clavietta (a kind of melodica), not to forget a few collages and digital processes.
Ballads with a cinematographic mood that respond in an abstract and dreamlike way to the texts of great poets...
More

CD Digipack - - The new 2nd Solo Album by Ezechiel Pailhes !

Tracklist CD:
01. River Day - 02. Little Museum - 03. Eternel Été - 04. How Long - 05. Body Woogie - 06. Tout Va Bien - 07. Bit Hip - 08. Boyd London - 09. Le Fou Du Phare - 10. Promesse - 11. Octobre

Beautiful piano melodies, ballads drawing their inspiration from jazz, classical music and cinematic
imagery, hummed choruses, a mood at the crossroad of nostalgia and reverie, instruments with
uncanny timbre and charm, chiseled percussions, added to a subtle electronic production, this is the
recipe for Tout Va Bien, the second solo album by French composer Ezechiel Pailhès.
All this is reflected in the opening track, River Day, which begins with “prepared piano” sounds (a
technique mastered by Ezechiel, which consists in placing different objects on the strings of the piano,
to create singular percussive notes). This deliberately mysterious and poetic introduction, supported
by light electronic effects, is soon combined with a light beat, organ chords and vocalisations by the
artist, which gradually transform the track into a ritornello, with both nostalgic and lighthearted tones.
As the artist states it: “We could describe this type of emotion as a kind of endearing nostalgia, close
to saudade,” i.e. the Portuguese term expressing the idea of a light melancholy stripped of its sickly
aspect, or a “haunted craving” as the singer and composer Pierre Barouh nicely put it. “This feeling
comes naturally to me when I write. Generally, in my music, I seek a form of soothing, of eternity even,
(without meaning to sound pretentious). This is something I encounter in classical music, which is
what I listen to most.”
Even if he defines himself as a “jolly fellow” (which is confirmed by the music and reputation of his
electro-pop duo Nôze), when chatting to him, he comes across as quite gentle and stellar, just like this
collection of eleven tracks that he composed “in autarky”, entirely alone, in his Montreuil home studio.
Following the footpath of Divine, his first solo release from 2013, this album is however more intimate,
marking Pailhès' taste for finely crafted moods and drifts. Songs like Tout Va Bien, but also Éternel Été
and Promesse, whose lines have been borrowed from Shakespeare's sonnets, seem to shift between
carelessness, bliss, bitterness and anxiety.
“Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding they bravery in their rotten smoke?”
(Taken from William Shakespeare's Sonnets that inspired Promesse)
As for titles such as Octobre, Boyd London or Le Fou Du Phare, they illustrate Ezechiel’s gift for
composing instrumental ballads, with equally versatile emotions though drawing from cinema,
supported by whispered or sung vocalisations. Ezechiel explains: “No word can quite describe this
type of singing, it's a kind of ritornello, these are songs without lyrics, which is all down to the fact that I
always think of my melodies as songs. The absence of words is not a form of laziness. My songs
simply say enough for people to imagine their own story. It is more about suggesting or evoking a
feeling, an emotion. "
Even though he composed on the piano, in this album Ezechiel plays and toys with numerous other
instruments, such as the Clavietta (a type of Melodica), a Moog Little Phatty synth, an analog Korg
Lambda organ, rare virtual instruments, and a whole array of exotic percussions, gleaned along his
tours. He insists, however, on the sculptural dimension of his compositional work. For him, it is about
“revealing or masking the sound of the original melody” through various processes, including
percussive ones, whether using a prepared piano (which he even calls "transformist”) or several digital
cuts and superimpositions enabling him to generate what he calls “sound illusions”, through unusual
associations between the timbres of various instruments.
Even if parallels can be drawn with the work of other composers, such as Moondog's piano melodies,
Matthew Herbert's sonorous and rhythmic tinkering and techno 'fringe', or even the graceful fantasy of
Nino Rota, the music of Ezechiel definitely sounds like no other. His songs conveying delicate
emotions, his obvious melodic mastery, draw from classical influences. His instrumental ease acquired
from jazz, his conciseness and sounds processing skills derived from electro, this all makes him one of
the most singular and endearing personalities in today's musical scene. More

Full Cover Art 1LP Print - The new 2nd Solo Album by Ezechiel Pailhes !

Tracklist LP:
A1. River Day - A2. Little Museum - A3. Eternel Été - A4. How Long - A5. Body Woogie - B1. Tout Va Bien - B2. Bit Hip - B3. Boyd London - B4. Le Fou Du Phare - B5. Promesse - B6. Octobre

Beautiful piano melodies, ballads drawing their inspiration from jazz, classical music and cinematic
imagery, hummed choruses, a mood at the crossroad of nostalgia and reverie, instruments with
uncanny timbre and charm, chiseled percussions, added to a subtle electronic production, this is the
recipe for Tout Va Bien, the second solo album by French composer Ezechiel Pailhès.
All this is reflected in the opening track, River Day, which begins with “prepared piano” sounds (a
technique mastered by Ezechiel, which consists in placing different objects on the strings of the piano,
to create singular percussive notes). This deliberately mysterious and poetic introduction, supported
by light electronic effects, is soon combined with a light beat, organ chords and vocalisations by the
artist, which gradually transform the track into a ritornello, with both nostalgic and lighthearted tones.
As the artist states it: “We could describe this type of emotion as a kind of endearing nostalgia, close
to saudade,” i.e. the Portuguese term expressing the idea of a light melancholy stripped of its sickly
aspect, or a “haunted craving” as the singer and composer Pierre Barouh nicely put it. “This feeling
comes naturally to me when I write. Generally, in my music, I seek a form of soothing, of eternity even,
(without meaning to sound pretentious). This is something I encounter in classical music, which is
what I listen to most.”

Even if he defines himself as a “jolly fellow” (which is confirmed by the music and reputation of his
electro-pop duo Nôze), when chatting to him, he comes across as quite gentle and stellar, just like this
collection of eleven tracks that he composed “in autarky”, entirely alone, in his Montreuil home studio.
Following the footpath of Divine, his first solo release from 2013, this album is however more intimate,
marking Pailhès' taste for finely crafted moods and drifts. Songs like Tout Va Bien, but also Éternel Été
and Promesse, whose lines have been borrowed from Shakespeare's sonnets, seem to shift between
carelessness, bliss, bitterness and anxiety.
“Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day
And make me travel forth without my cloak,
To let base clouds o'ertake me in my way,
Hiding they bravery in their rotten smoke?”
(Taken from William Shakespeare's Sonnets that inspired Promesse)
As for titles such as Octobre, Boyd London or Le Fou Du Phare, they illustrate Ezechiel’s gift for
composing instrumental ballads, with equally versatile emotions though drawing from cinema,
supported by whispered or sung vocalisations. Ezechiel explains: “No word can quite describe this
type of singing, it's a kind of ritornello, these are songs without lyrics, which is all down to the fact that I
always think of my melodies as songs. The absence of words is not a form of laziness. My songs
simply say enough for people to imagine their own story. It is more about suggesting or evoking a
feeling, an emotion. "
Even though he composed on the piano, in this album Ezechiel plays and toys with numerous other
instruments, such as the Clavietta (a type of Melodica), a Moog Little Phatty synth, an analog Korg
Lambda organ, rare virtual instruments, and a whole array of exotic percussions, gleaned along his
tours. He insists, however, on the sculptural dimension of his compositional work. For him, it is about
“revealing or masking the sound of the original melody” through various processes, including
percussive ones, whether using a prepared piano (which he even calls "transformist”) or several digital
cuts and superimpositions enabling him to generate what he calls “sound illusions”, through unusual
associations between the timbres of various instruments.
Even if parallels can be drawn with the work of other composers, such as Moondog's piano melodies,
Matthew Herbert's sonorous and rhythmic tinkering and techno 'fringe', or even the graceful fantasy of
Nino Rota, the music of Ezechiel definitely sounds like no other. His songs conveying delicate
emotions, his obvious melodic mastery, draw from classical influences. His instrumental ease acquired
from jazz, his conciseness and sounds processing skills derived from electro, this all makes him one of
the most singular and endearing personalities in today's musical scene.
More

UPC: 827170125223 Release : 03.06.2012
Tracklist CD: 1. Hands On Hips 2. Tout Doux 3. Blue Curtain 4. Sleeper Train 5. Quietude 6. Qui Sait 7. Cornetto 8. Matin 9. Up To The Sky 10. Under The Lake 11. Furioso 12. La Ligne 13. Piano Box 14. Divine
Divine : The immobile odyssey.
For a long time before the success of Nôze led him to discover the rest of the world, Ezechiel Pailhès remained a prophet in: his country. For a long time as well, he worked on creating what became his first solo album, waiting for the right moment when he could no longer contain all the melodies that populate this 14-leg epic. A voyage in a free world, where creation knows no formal constraints, where everything mutates according to the determined inspiration of the moment. Transforming the original pieces without knowing in advance how they will end up, disguising the instruments so that they are mistaken for others, nothing frightens this intrepid sailor whose ship is nevertheless securely moored at home, Ezechiel composes and plays at home in Paris. Sole master on board, the tinkerer illusionist prepares his piano with mechanic's tools (scotch tape, rubber, percussion, wooden claves adrift over the strings), obtaining instruments that do not sound where we expect them. This adventure is, he says, a fiction he wants to believe in.The result is equal to the creator and his character.14 captivating melodies like siren songs, sometimes dressed in a simple lala or lyrics by David Lafore, 14 ports of call offering a sweetness that is at times extremely melancholy, 14 pieces whose implacable refrains take root the first time you listen to them. This is indeed a divine crossing people with wide-ranging references (Serge Regianni, D Angelo, Bernard Hermann, Timber Timbre, Stevie Wonder but also Henri Duparc, Moondog, Keith Jarett or Tony Benett ) that we are invited to share with Ezechiel whose career as a pianist has evolved on the stages where he has been performing for years as a duo with Nicolas Sfintescu (Nôze).
A succession of landscapes, of cinematographic images, some of the pieces were composed for movies and remained at the dock when others made their way to the silver screen (Bancs Publics co-written with David Lafore for Denis Podalydès )… A voyage that successively makes you want to dance, to dream, simply to listen the way you gaze at the horizon seated on the deck of a sailboat. There is the heady sailors' nostalgic longing (Quiétude, inspired by a sonnet of W. Shakespeare ) but also their cheerfulness, their lightness, the festive nature of the ports where things swing and the emotion of the infinite contemplated, the heart stirred by the swell. Divine is the companion for all trips, the disk you take to the deserted island and to the loft in Berlin, the disk that you play constantly without tiring of it because each listening reveals places you were unaware of, sounds that had not yet been discovered, because it thrills music lovers. Divine is the road songs that you want to share with your pals, but whose story you keep to yourself, this song reminds me of this, another takes me there. With the top up or down.
And you embark without resistance, Ezechiel is at the helm, you can travel calmly.
More

Genre: Beats, Ambient, Electronica
Tracklist LP:
A1. Sing a Storm - A2. Que Rico - A3. Heart of a Canary - A4. Deeper Filth - A5. Just Another Kid - A6. Arp on a Table -
B1. Boulevard - B2. Vessel Plans - B3. JP Ate Culture - B4. Mountain Range - B5. nEw fAme - B6. That Old Fuck - B7. Burger Time - B8. Umpah Band - B9. Don’t Wake Me Up Bro - B10. Not Lost - B11. GoinF4er

Short Info:
High Hopes - New album from the Mole.
High Hopes is 17 songs across 40 minutes on one slice of wax that, as advertised, sounds nothing like last month’s Ep, High Dreams. Here, rather than the long form dance form, is a continuation of the
beat tape pacing from the last album, a collection of moments posing as ideas posing as a narrative stuffed with oddities and surprises that reward the close listen.
What’s heard on High Hopes is the Mole’s exploration of a love letter, from one person to a family, from the northern Pacific to the southern Atlantic, from a boy to a painted bird. Vancouver Island to
Manantiales. The songs range from ambient sound bath and hip hop sludge, up to micro boogie and almost House before tumbling back down and forth again. Bubbling synths, MPCs swung out, samples
chopped and chewed, bass and violins from Rick and Sophie, field recordings of birds and frogs and beaches, friends and family and fiestas. Did we mention the love ?! This album has got it all! Original
collages from Antonio Carrau envelope this wax: jacket, sleeve and cookie.
Antonio’s work is typified by playful combinations and bold statements about living in a embrace of analog and digital health. His collages marry the corporeal world with an updated, digitalized age of
reproduction, inducing feelings of gratitude for the simple everyday scenes we sometimes lose touch with when we forget to slow down. Good living, like breathing, requires inhaling as well as exhaling.
We can’t always produce content, make art, we must also pause, and listen. And enjoy. The Mole is joined by friends and colleagues on several songs included on High Hopes. Rick May plays bass on both Que Rico and album stand out GoinF4er. Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You Black Emperor) plays and arranges violins on GoinF4er and Danuel Tate (Cobblestone Jazz) and Julz Chaz
(Wagon Repair) both play Vibes and Emaxx throughout the album. Working with these incredible talents not only enriched this album, but fulfilled a long standing goal of the Mole’s; to work again with
the musicians from whom he learned so much. People who helped inform the shape of Mole to come.
The Mole who was As High As The Sky. The Mole has been ‘recognized’ by the ‘global underground’ since his critically celebrated premiere album, As High As The Sky, but his earlier Eps (Wagon Repair, Philpot, Musique Risquee) got the attention of Top DJs, clubs, and festivals around the world first. His sound remains unique, fresh and deep: enjoying plays in a wide variety of spaces and places.
High Hopes is the Mole’s 5th solo album and his 2nd album for Circus Company (The River Widens) who have also proudly released two eps of Mole magic (Little Sunshine, High Dreams).
*Isn’t that too much time for one record? Short answer - No. Long answer - depends on the material. Due to the many quiet passages in the album, the groove spacing can be modulated and the needle
can slow it’s progress towards the center/end resulting in longer sides with continued high gain and low distortion. More

Genre: Beats, Ambient, Electronica

Tracklist Cassette:
SIDE A
01. Sing a Storm - 02. Que Rico - 03. Heart of a Canary - 04. Deeper Filth - 05. Just Another Kid -06. Arp on a Table - 07. Time Changes (Bonus Track)
SIDE B
01. Boulevard - 02. Vessel Plans - 03. JP Ate Culture - 04. Mountain Range - 05. nEw fAme - 06.That Old Fuck - 07. Burger Time - 08. Umpah Band - 09. Don’t Wake Me Up Bro - 10. Not Lost -
11. GoinF4er

Short Info:
High Hopes - New album from the Mole.
High Hopes is 17 songs across 40 minutes on one slice of wax that, as advertised, sounds nothing like last month’s Ep, High Dreams. Here, rather than the long form dance form, is a continuation of the
beat tape pacing from the last album, a collection of moments posing as ideas posing as a narrative stuffed with oddities and surprises that reward the close listen.
What’s heard on High Hopes is the Mole’s exploration of a love letter, from one person to a family, from the northern Pacific to the southern Atlantic, from a boy to a painted bird. Vancouver Island to
Manantiales. The songs range from ambient sound bath and hip hop sludge, up to micro boogie and almost House before tumbling back down and forth again. Bubbling synths, MPCs swung out, samples
chopped and chewed, bass and violins from Rick and Sophie, field recordings of birds and frogs and beaches, friends and family and fiestas. Did we mention the love ?! This album has got it all! Original
collages from Antonio Carrau envelope this wax: jacket, sleeve and cookie.
Antonio’s work is typified by playful combinations and bold statements about living in a embrace of analog and digital health. His collages marry the corporeal world with an updated, digitalized age of
reproduction, inducing feelings of gratitude for the simple everyday scenes we sometimes lose touch with when we forget to slow down. Good living, like breathing, requires inhaling as well as exhaling.
We can’t always produce content, make art, we must also pause, and listen. And enjoy. The Mole is joined by friends and colleagues on several songs included on High Hopes. Rick May plays bass on both Que Rico and album stand out GoinF4er. Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You Black Emperor) plays and arranges violins on GoinF4er and Danuel Tate (Cobblestone Jazz) and Julz Chaz (Wagon Repair) both play Vibes and Emaxx throughout the album. Working with these incredible talents not only enriched this album, but fulfilled a long standing goal of the Mole’s; to work again with the musicians from whom he learned so much. People who helped inform the shape of Mole to come.
The Mole who was As High As The Sky. The Mole has been ‘recognized’ by the ‘global underground’ since his critically celebrated premiere album, As High As The Sky, but his earlier Eps (Wagon Repair, Philpot, Musique Risquee) got the attention of Top DJs, clubs, and festivals around the world first. His sound remains unique, fresh and deep: enjoying plays in a wide variety of spaces and places.
High Hopes is the Mole’s 5th solo album and his 2nd album for Circus Company (The River Widens) who have also proudly released two eps of Mole magic (Little Sunshine, High Dreams).
*Isn’t that too much time for one record? Short answer - No. Long answer - depends on the material. Due to the many quiet passages in the album, the groove spacing can be modulated and the needle
can slow it’s progress towards the center/end resulting in longer sides with continued high gain and low distortion. More

2024 Repress

UPC: 827170460461

A1. Hands On Hips A2. Tout Doux A3. Blue Curtain A4. Sleeper Train A5. Quietude A6. Qui Sait
B1. Matin B2. Up To The Sky B3. Under The Lake B4. Furioso B5. La Ligne B6. Piano Box B7. Divine


Divine : The immobile odyssey.
For a long time before the success of Nôze led him to discover the rest of the world, Ezechiel Pailhès remained a prophet in: his country. For a long time as well, he worked on creating what became his first solo album, waiting for the right moment when he could no longer contain all the melodies that populate this 14-leg epic. A voyage in a free world, where creation knows no formal constraints, where everything mutates according to the determined inspiration of the moment. Transforming the original pieces without knowing in advance how they will end up, disguising the instruments so that they are mistaken for others, nothing frightens this intrepid sailor whose ship is nevertheless securely moored at home, Ezechiel composes and plays at home in Paris. Sole master on board, the tinkerer illusionist prepares his piano with mechanic's tools (scotch tape, rubber, percussion, wooden claves adrift over the strings), obtaining instruments that do not sound where we expect them. This adventure is, he says, a fiction he wants to believe in.The result is equal to the creator and his character.14 captivating melodies like siren songs, sometimes dressed in a simple lala or lyrics by David Lafore, 14 ports of call offering a sweetness that is at times extremely melancholy, 14 pieces whose implacable refrains take root the first time you listen to them. This is indeed a divine crossing people with wide-ranging references (Serge Regianni, D Angelo, Bernard Hermann, Timber Timbre, Stevie Wonder but also Henri Duparc, Moondog, Keith Jarett or Tony Benett ) that we are invited to share with Ezechiel whose career as a pianist has evolved on the stages where he has been performing for years as a duo with Nicolas Sfintescu (Nôze).
A succession of landscapes, of cinematographic images, some of the pieces were composed for movies and remained at the dock when others made their way to the silver screen (Bancs Publics co-written with David Lafore for Denis Podalydès )… A voyage that successively makes you want to dance, to dream, simply to listen the way you gaze at the horizon seated on the deck of a sailboat. There is the heady sailors' nostalgic longing (Quiétude, inspired by a sonnet of W. Shakespeare ) but also their cheerfulness, their lightness, the festive nature of the ports where things swing and the emotion of the infinite contemplated, the heart stirred by the swell. Divine is the companion for all trips, the disk you take to the deserted island and to the loft in Berlin, the disk that you play constantly without tiring of it because each listening reveals places you were unaware of, sounds that had not yet been discovered, because it thrills music lovers. Divine is the road songs that you want to share with your pals, but whose story you keep to yourself, this song reminds me of this, another takes me there. With the top up or down.
And you embark without resistance, Ezechiel is at the helm, you can travel calmly.
More

Genre: House

Tracklist:
A1. Losing Track
A2. Climbers Pit (Feat. Joli B & Danuel Tate)
B1. Losing Track (Dave Aju Remix)
B2. Youandthekitten

Short Info:
New music by The Mole. High Dreams contains four tracks, three originals and one remix from Circus Company favourite Dave Aju. The Mole savours dreaming and welcomes the mystical landscapes of
the mind with High Dreams, a collection of uptempo dance pieces inhabited by ghosts and welcoming creatures from the deeps. This unpretentious collection cuts straight with the rhythms, and carries long
with the arrangements. Dancefloor sizzle. Subsonic rumble. Ghosts! Your body moving requisites lie within this simple plate of wax. Turn up your amps and bathe in it.
The Mole is known for his “hits” (Baby You’re The One, Hippy Speedball, In My Song, Lockdown Party) and his “work” with many Top labels (Perlon, Kompakt, Wagon Repair, Maybe Tomorrow, Ostgut Ton)
is played by many Top DJs. Only his third release with Circus Company (Little Sunshine, The River Widens), this Ep is a reminder that the Mole is still at it, and a warning. There’s a new album upcoming.
And it sounds nothing like this…
With his 19th release with the label since 2003, Dave Aju is one of the pillars of modern Circus Company. Aju amplifies Losing Track, adding percussion and fresh, modern programming, giving the remix a whole
new purpose while maintaining the erie cries, calling out, desperate - don’t leave me hang ’n … of the original. A certain go to for the Deep Heads.

More

Genre: Alternative, Electronic, Piano Solo

Tracklist CD:
01. Unless - 02. Piccolo - 03. Sway - 04. Almost There (Piano Version) - 05. Ventas Rumba - 06.
Pianovado - 07. La ligne (Modular Version) - 08. Opus 53 - 09. Eclair - 10. Flat Feet - 11. La valse
des singes - 12. Louanges - 13. Fly Finger - 14. Ferveur

Short Info:
With his new instrumental album Ventas Rumba, the French composer (and singer) returns to his signature instrument, the piano, blending it with warm synth tones. This album represents a "return to his roots ", allowing Ezéchiel Pailhès to reinvent himself in a seamless way while still exploring ballads and ritornellos, halfway between light-heartedness and melancholy. Ezéchiel Pailhès has been meaning to write a solo piano album for as long as he can remember. Hardly surprising, of course, for this academically-trained pianist, brought up on classical music and then studied jazz. Yet, since his 2001 debut with the electro-pop duo Nôze, and his subsequent four albums, the artist had constantly postponed this project that was so close to his heart. Then in 2022, just as he was getting ready to start producing an album of new songs, this long-standing aim finally materialized.
The melodies he wrote seemed to stand on their own naturally, spurring him on to compose this series of fourteen tracks, recorded in sessions split between France and Latvia.
A new piano: the Una Corda
Ezéchiel wanted this project dedicated to the piano to begin a new narrative, to explore new instrumental terrain and new tones, something far removed from the familiar piano he has been playing all his life. He opted for the Una Corda piano, designed by David Klavins, a groundbreaking instrument builder renowned for his distinctive pianos with vertical shapes and frames.

The Una Corda, created in 2014, is an upright piano with a single string per note (unlike three strings on traditional pianos). Enticed by the "crystalline and unique" tones of this instrument, which is hard to find in France, Ezéchiel travelled to Kuldiga, Latvia (where David Klavins set up his workshops and studios), to record the first part of the album. Although the title of the album may initially conjure up images of a distant, sensual dance, the reality is quite different. Ventas Rumba indeed refers to the waterfall and rapids (in Latvian: rumba) of the river Ventas, which runs near this small village in the western part of the country. Ezéchiel chose to blur the lines, as the sound and musicality of the title likely evoke both his short stay in the Baltic country, and also a form of distant exotic imagery perfectly in tune with his own mischievous wit. Tracks as short stories

Back in France, Ezéchiel enhanced the first tracks recorded in Kuldiga with subtle synth tone layers, and added other tracks composed and recorded at his Montreuil studio. The album reflects a deliberate and sensitive orchestration of piano, synth keyboards and digital effects, as he puts it: "playing to erase the differences between the tones of the various instruments", as if each instrument's texture echoed the others. According to Ezéchiel, you can listen to Ventas Rumba as you would leaf through "a collection of short stories", through compositions that rarely exceed three minutes and evoke figures of movement, lightness, curves or modulation, such as "La ligne", "La valse des singes" or "Fly Finger". Others more seriously relate to a kind of spirituality, which quietly infuses such different tracks as "Ferveur", "Éclair" and "Louanges". Ezéchiel adds: “I’m by no means religious, but I like what God has managed to get musicians to achieve (laughs)". "Louanges", for instance, despite its electronic edge, "refers to Olivier Messiaen, a very devout composer who I greatly admire". Other tracks are directly inspired by the classical music he listens to on a daily basis. For example, Chopin's “8th Nocturne” formed the backdrop of “Pianovado”. Likewise, the harmonic structure of Beethoven's “Waldstein Sonata No. 21” inspired “Opus 53”. Aside from these multiple references and inspirations, which quickly recede behind a style that is uniquely his, Ezéchiel Pailhès keeps exploring ideas already found on his first solo albums, this time in an instrumental format, undoubtedly purer, fostering an imaginary world that evokes the shapes and themes of ballads, ritornellos, light-heartedness, passing time, reverie or a universal subdued melancholy. More

Genre : Electronic - Downtempo

Tracklist :

A1. Jail Time with Mr. Murd (Feat. Yonatan Albalak) - A2. Graveyard Party - A3. Your Tissue SVP - A4. SNG PLSTN - A5. - I Think This Is Reasonable - A6. HRTSPC - B1. NOZPLZ - B2. Dada’s Bone - B3. OCNC XTR - B4. EZ PPL 4 TRTH - B5. Don’t Forget to Not Remember Who

Yuval Havkin, also known as Rejoicer, is one of the foremost exponents of downtempo music, inspired by the fusion of jazz and hip-hop. His new album thus draws on his early influences while exploring the world of calm, melodic electronic music that borders on ambient.

This Is Reasonable has a chill-out feel to it, a record filled with melodies and atmospheres that, throughout its eleven tracks, conveys a sense of calm and floating, akin to ambient music. Stripped of the clichés of the genre, the album is built around subtle melodies and rich harmonies from keyboards and synths, which borrow as much from the spirit of jazz as from the inventions of electronica, whilst being supported by a gentle groove. This equilibrium is perfectly captured by Rejoicer's moniker, a term that evokes both the idleness of artificial paradises and a soft, caring form of spirituality.

Musical path
Yuval Havkin was born in Israel in 1985, and grew up in England before returning to his homeland. He began studying classical piano as a child, but was put off by such conservative teaching and turned to hip-hop and beatmaking in his teens. Throughout the 2000s, he learned his skills "on the job", working with musicians he met in Tel Aviv, a local scene that nurtured a sense of community and emulation. Back then, he was particularly impressed by the grooves and electronic inventions of Detroit producer Dabrye, who had a revelatory effect on him, before he discovered legendary musicians Madlib and Jay Dee aka J Dilla, who led him down the path of beatmaking.

Yuval Havkin's music career got off to a more serious start in the late 2000s with the creation of his own label, Raw Tapes, both based in Tel Aviv. Blending jazz, funk and hip hop, whilst still embracing pop influences, the label's productions showcased the richness of the new Israeli scene combining cool, elegance, playfulness, and a degree of research and inventiveness, thanks to the talent of artists and bands such as Duo Brothers, Maya Dunietz, iogi, Nitai Hershkovits, the Buttering Trio and Rejoicer, the artist's most personal project.

In 2018, Rejoicer's warm and engaging sounds caught the attention of the prestigious Los Angeles label Stones Throw, renowned for having signed his idols Madlib and J Dilla, not to mention Aloe Blacc and Peanut Butter Wolf (its founder). Two albums followed, Energy Dreams (2018) and Spiritual Sleaze (2020), both of which demonstrate his instrumental mastery, jazz culture and lush orchestrations. Both albums are on a par with more renown sampling prodigies of the beat scene, and gave him his first international recognition.

Now based between Los Angeles and Savyon, near Tel Aviv, this hyperactive and instinctive artist simultaneously pursues a career as a composer, musician and label owner, member of numerous bands and collective projects (Apifera, PlayDead, collaborations with Jimi Prasad and Avishai Cohen) while also offering his studios and production skills to other artists. “Fela Kuti meets Aphex Twin”

This new Rejoicer album, which follows three earlier jazz-tinged records, marks a new and more personal musical direction for an artist who previously favored group work and collaborations. Yuval chose here to delve into a more electronic and sequenced style of music, playing Prophet 6 and 8 synths, a Juno 60, a Minimoog and his Fender Rhodes keyboard, in contrast with the more organic sounds of his previous albums. While a few tracks on this new album may sound like a laid-back version of some of the Warp label's early electronic classics by Aphex Twin or Boards of Canada, Yuval Havkin claims to have also been inspired by the great Fela Kuti, particularly in his search for harmonies between bass, keyboards and
percussion, and by his elder trumpet-playing friend Avishai Cohen, a musician he particularly admires.

Beyond these various influences, This Is Reasonable is an album of compelling and bewitching melodies. The moods, peacefulness and sheer beauty of This Is Reasonable are, indeed, quite paradoxical, in stark contrast to the country's tragedies (the title explicitly refers to recent political disputes in Israel) and the war currently raging less than a hundred miles from his studio. A paradox fully embraced by the artist, who views his music as a response to the violence of our times.
More

Double Vinyl LP (incl. printed inner sleeve)

Tracklist 2LP:
A1. The Pull of Time - A2. Parallax - B1. The Color of Static - B2. Begin Again - C1. I Need You -
C2. Beacon - D1. Are We Not Above It? (Feat. NiQ E & L_cio) - D2. The Mycorrhizal Network -
D3. Augmented Dreams

Short Info:
Alan Abrahams aka Portable returns to the label in fine form with his latest full-length LP, Augmented
Dreams. The title refers to the use of everyday technological advancements to achieve what were once
only dreams or visions of past generations, making this an explorative concept album that is equal parts
not-too-distant science fiction, and about as topical as it gets.
From the gorgeous opening string layers of “The Pull of Time” to the classy 4/4 grooves of “Begin Again”
or lead single “Guiding Me”, into the apropos and angular sci-fi broken beat feels of “Parallax” and “The
Color of Static”, fitting Detroit-influenced love taps like “Beacon” and “The Mycorrhizal Network”, the
politically-inspired “Are We Not Above It?” referencing the lingering effects of colonization featuring NiQ
E from South Africa on vocals and L_cio from Brazil on flute, through to the futurist pop elegance of the
dreamy duet recorded with Alexey Kochetkov “I Need You” and the conclusive titular track, it is clear
that both the in-depth concept and immaculately-crafted musical content in Portable’s inimitable style
are balanced in significance and expressive effect. This also functions as a timely statement in itself, as
today’s iceberg-tip evolution of AI technology is currently impending over the arts and many of our
existing realities.
This ten-song album serves as an imaginative yet hyperrealist narrative on how humanity’s fascination
with and reliance on ever-advancing technology defines the times we find ourselves in, while the skillful
sonic displays and present-era production techniques along with Abraham’s knack for timeless emotive
songwriting offer up this solid soundtrack for the ages. More

Genre: House, Minimal

Tracklist:

A1. Guiding Me (Original Mix) FR2T02300025
B1. Guiding Me (Lawrence remix) FR2T02300026
B2. Vigor FR2T02300027

Short Info:

The ever-prolific and established artist Alan Abrahams aka Portable makes a swift and very welcome return to Circus Company with the impressive lead single "Guiding Me", giving us an early taste of his forthcoming album Augmented Dreams to be released in the fall.

Conceptually the direction of this new project refers to the use of technology to alter our dreams, inadvertently or not, as so much tech advancement becomes available and ingrained in our daily lives. The timely lead single here inspired by Abraham's South African ancestors the Khoi San people and the guidance they provide, appropriately exuding both futurist formed sonics and dream-like tenderness in content, led by his dulcet-toned vocals and delivered with the super solid production we've come to expect. Wonderful multi-purpose electronic music which will find itself right at home on late-night discerning dance floors, or indeed guiding the listener through their respective travels, solo meditations or get-downs in headphones.

Along with the excellent "Guiding Me" original mix, we are graced with a masterful remix by Hamburg's Lawrence of Smallville and Dial fame, who takes the track into an even more floor-focussed realm with his patented rolling sub-bass lines which will guarantee plenty of summertime sound system finessing, as well as the EP-exclusive B2 track "Vigor" in which Portable goes even deeper in tone with classic styled vocal cut-ups and repurposed shards of tasty sound design added to keep the dancers endlessly entranced when and wherever they may be.

More

Genre: Ambient, Electronica, Experimental

Tracklist CD:
01. Venus - 02. Marché - 03. Foule - 04. Saloperie - 05. So Dad… - 06. Fluids - 07. Bonnes nouvelles des étoiles -
08. Flirty - 09. Audio Sexual Part 1 - 10. Science imbécile - 11. Maternaliste - 12. Gravos - 13. Wesh Finn Zerb -
14. Comput - 15. Aliens - 16. Fruit Cakes - 17. Vol plané


Short Info:
Deepening the comic tones using cosmic relief, and lively vibes, La Science des Imbéciles
(Ludicrous System), Brigitte Barbu’s sophomore sonic adventure, manifest a blurry creation
intersecting orbital audio paths and damaged smoking instruments. Could have easily been
called Birdless Science but it wouldn’t be funny…
Reverberating estranged arrangements, bizarre sounds, electronic fantasies, « hallucinationalism »,
and crypto poppy stratums all party together in Barbu's second explicit sensual album. Recorded and
digested during a gastro-reclusive residency in an Un-Orthodox Union Spacy Workstation, under the
benign diffraction of "Californian psychedelia» and medieval Cyrillic capharnaüm. Due to historic
geographical confusions and incorrect spellings, any specific detail will stay confidential. Using a
powerful branded calculator, digital converters, boutique preamps and various synthetic substitutions,
this extra album is blooming for spring cleaning. The guitar was accidentally ravaged, propelling
supervision into a strange but dope alt verse, still somewhere between an impromtu voyage through
scattered chronology and a poetic analytical research.
A cheerful memento escaping from pressure and weight like one of those fancy diets.
"I wanted to compose an intangible Pop LP" says Brigitte, « with guitar as an alibi, blending arrogant
synthesizers and humble plug-ins.… ». With a genuine thoughtful dimension, this record freaks as out
audiences with its neat mischievous mood. Jazzing the Mushing Rooms while testing the Acid Tweaks,
initially, the Artist had ambiguously vague rules for composing: but slowly, offending beardless
academics became the motto.
Ingrédients: orgasmic pads, sublime beaches, distorted nostalgia, frustrated markets, perfect
crowds, shady brews, body fluids, magnificent news, fried stars, hairy spouses, loud flirts, cosmicNew Release Information
crumbs, healed sons, dumb technology, rare games,underground motherships, Turkish tarot, fat bits
and heavy cream, fresh herbs, exotic invectives, a stuttering abacus, lamb’s bread, silent farts,
croissants chauds, extended outsiders, incongruous «patisseries», condescending muffs, violent
eardrums, hijacked bytes, macho bakers, epic fails, viennese bass, very large ears, hilarious gliding,
what else ?? More

Genre: Ambient, Electronica, Experimental

Tracklist LP:
A1. Venus - A2. Marché - A3. - Foule - A4. - Saloperie - A5. So Dad… - A6. Fluids - A7. Bonnes
nouvelles des étoiles - A8. - Flirty - A9. Audio Sexual Part 1 - A10. Science imbécile - B1.
Maternaliste - B2. Gravos - B3. Wesh Finn Zerb - B4. Comput - B5. Aliens - B6. Fruit Cakes - B7.
Vol plané

Short Info:
Deepening the comic tones using cosmic relief, and lively vibes, La Science des Imbéciles
(Ludicrous System), Brigitte Barbu’s sophomore sonic adventure, manifest a blurry creation
intersecting orbital audio paths and damaged smoking instruments. Could have easily been
called Birdless Science but it wouldn’t be funny…
Reverberating estranged arrangements, bizarre sounds, electronic fantasies, « hallucinationalism »,
and crypto poppy stratums all party together in Barbu's second explicit sensual album. Recorded and
digested during a gastro-reclusive residency in an Un-Orthodox Union Spacy Workstation, under the
benign diffraction of "Californian psychedelia» and medieval Cyrillic capharnaüm. Due to historic
geographical confusions and incorrect spellings, any specific detail will stay confidential. Using a
powerful branded calculator, digital converters, boutique preamps and various synthetic substitutions,
this extra album is blooming for spring cleaning. The guitar was accidentally ravaged, propelling
supervision into a strange but dope alt verse, still somewhere between an impromtu voyage through
scattered chronology and a poetic analytical research.
A cheerful memento escaping from pressure and weight like one of those fancy diets.
"I wanted to compose an intangible Pop LP" says Brigitte, « with guitar as an alibi, blending arrogant
synthesizers and humble plug-ins.… ». With a genuine thoughtful dimension, this record freaks as out
audiences with its neat mischievous mood. Jazzing the Mushing Rooms while testing the Acid Tweaks,
initially, the Artist had ambiguously vague rules for composing: but slowly, offending beardless
academics became the motto.
Ingrédients: orgasmic pads, sublime beaches, distorted nostalgia, frustrated markets, perfect
crowds, shady brews, body fluids, magnificent news, fried stars, hairy spouses, loud flirts, cosmicNew Release Information
crumbs, healed sons, dumb technology, rare games,underground motherships, Turkish tarot, fat bits
and heavy cream, fresh herbs, exotic invectives, a stuttering abacus, lamb’s bread, silent farts,
croissants chauds, extended outsiders, incongruous «patisseries», condescending muffs, violent
eardrums, hijacked bytes, macho bakers, epic fails, viennese bass, very large ears, hilarious gliding,
what else ?? More

Genre: Electro, House

Tracklist:
A1. Firesound - B1. Lost Sonar - B2. Light Blooming

Short Info:
Following well-received collaborative outings for us as 1/2 of the SF dynamo duo Moniker whose classic
“Billy D” anthem and respective Patrice Scott remix graced the early catalog, followed by the galactic
flex Straylight EP with Cali brethren Dave Aju on velvet vocoder vox b/w a stellar Kai Alcé remix on the
Another offshoot imprint, and of course his indelible contributions to the arrangements/derangement of
the wondrous KAMM LP Cookie Policies, Kenneth Scott is essentially an extended family household
name for our camp and so we’re beyond proud to present his initial solo release for the Circus Company
label proper. Schooled as always in the deepest of electronic music roots and classiest of track
traditions, the three pieces that form the Light Blooming EP puzzle display all the prized synth wizardry
and production ingenuity we’ve come to expect from the Berlin-based veteran.
“Firesound” kicks us off in fine form, with a glistening array of pads and tight arpeggios that give way to
a soulful funk strut that any fan of Detroit-style electro flavors will enjoy to the fullest. We then move to
the stylized 4/4 pulse of the aptly-titled “Lost Sonar”, an extended live set for Lost Sonar Collective
skillfully condensed and finessed into a smooth-as-silk true deep house cut, where warm synth tones
set the sound bed while shards of sharper percussion and angular textures flash and fizz throughout,
creating an ultra-fresh contrasting feel while a rock-solid groove grinds us along faithfully. Scott then
finally closes out the set with the powerful and titular “Light Blooming” which begins with a similar rising
pad intro before unleashing fierce and raw overdriven drum programming, teasing us out to the two
minute mark when the mighty sub bass line and multi-layered arps drop in to devastating effect, bubbling
and building to a bold harmonic apex, before eventually bringing us down softly and somehow with ease
after such a glorious rise.
Filled with early-Warp feels and futurist sci-fi hopes in equal measure, the Light Blooming EP is three
tracks of pure funk precision and expressive musical class from the man Kenneth Scott More

Double LP (incl. download code)

Genre: Beats, Ambient, Electronica

Tracklist LP:
A1. X-pert Profat - A2. Break for Ma - A3. Drums 2002 - A4. Ducklings 2 - A5. #ew_horseplay -
A6. Jo Barker - A7. AR Day - B1. New Family - B2. Repepepater (feat. Joli B) - B3. Clean Father -
B4. Ambient Jams 3 - C1. July 11 Creepy (feat. Ted Pilsner) - C2. Brain Bed - C3. Roxy Dancer -
C4. Summer Storm - C5. They Work for Mr. O - C6. Tricky Dees Dumm Dumm -
C7. Ufos Over Egypt (feat. Cristobal) - D1. Weak Stranger - D2. XMods in the Living Room - D3. Being a Total Warm Up

Short Info:
One of our all-time favourite artists and extended Circus Company member The Mole returns to the
label for a proper presentation of his album The River Widens. Originally a limited, cassette-only
release via fellow Canadian Eddie C’s Red Motorbike, we are proud to offer this album in its full glory
for the first time on all formats.
Never one to shy away from synth deep dives, or raw sample flip collaging, this collection of 21 works
checks all the boxes. Ambient trippers to straight up neck-snapping instrumental beats. Not forgetting
tastes of the more uptempo, highly-assured and hypnotic dance floor feels the world has come to love
The Mole for. Moments of casual chillin are interspersed with effortless, emotive angles, some evoking
the charm of his Little Sunshine release for us in 2017.

X-pert Profat opens the set with sly statements that give way to relaxed and subtle keys over gentle,
midtempo rhythms. Things switch up nicely into easy, Northwest Coast boogie-meets-beatdown feels
inBreak For Ma, followed by a solid array of almost Jaylib-schooled boom bap twists, like the aptly-titled
Drums 2002 and Jo Barker. Ambient cuts like AR Dayand New Family offer a refreshing tap of the
brakes, setting the scene for the gorgeous, Jarre-esque Weak Stranger. We also get treated
to Repepepater’s nod to Detroit house, urban-mode Balearic feels on They Work For Mr. O, and sneak
attack lo-fi future funk in the form of UFOs Over Egypt, with Montreal co-pilot Cristobal on a wild
shisha-lit vox narrative, earlier versions of which have blessed many of our label comrades’ DJ sets,
from Dave Aju to Vincent Lemieux.
The River Widens expands beautifully on the breadth of unique musical directions The Mole is capable
of taking us in, now spread across fresh 2x12” vinyl and available digitally for the first time, along with
another limited edition cassette run - we hope you enjoy the ride as much as we do! More

cassette

Genre: Beats, Ambient, Electronica

Tracklist Cassette:
A1. X-pert Profat - A2. Break for Ma - A3. Drums 2002 - A4. Ducklings 2 - A5. #ew_horseplay -
A6. Jo Barker - A7. AR Day - A8. New Family - A9. Repepepater (feat. Joli B) - A10. Clean Father -
A11. Ambient Jams 3 - B1. July 11 Creepy (feat. Ted Pilsner) - B2. Brain Bed - B3. Roxy Dancer -
B4. Summer Storm - B5. They Work for Mr. O - B6. Tricky Dees Dumm Dumm -
B7. Ufos Over Egypt (feat. Cristobal) - B8. Weak Stranger - B9. XMods in the Living Room - B10. Being a Total Warm Up

Short Info:
One of our all-time favourite artists and extended Circus Company member The Mole returns to the
label for a proper presentation of his album The River Widens. Originally a limited, cassette-only
release via fellow Canadian Eddie C’s Red Motorbike, we are proud to offer this album in its full glory
for the first time on all formats.
Never one to shy away from synth deep dives, or raw sample flip collaging, this collection of 21 works
checks all the boxes. Ambient trippers to straight up neck-snapping instrumental beats. Not forgetting
tastes of the more uptempo, highly-assured and hypnotic dance floor feels the world has come to love
The Mole for. Moments of casual chillin are interspersed with effortless, emotive angles, some evoking
the charm of his Little Sunshine release for us in 2017.

X-pert Profat opens the set with sly statements that give way to relaxed and subtle keys over gentle,
midtempo rhythms. Things switch up nicely into easy, Northwest Coast boogie-meets-beatdown feels
inBreak For Ma, followed by a solid array of almost Jaylib-schooled boom bap twists, like the aptly-titled
Drums 2002 and Jo Barker. Ambient cuts like AR Dayand New Family offer a refreshing tap of the
brakes, setting the scene for the gorgeous, Jarre-esque Weak Stranger. We also get treated
to Repepepater’s nod to Detroit house, urban-mode Balearic feels on They Work For Mr. O, and sneak
attack lo-fi future funk in the form of UFOs Over Egypt, with Montreal co-pilot Cristobal on a wild
shisha-lit vox narrative, earlier versions of which have blessed many of our label comrades’ DJ sets,
from Dave Aju to Vincent Lemieux.
The River Widens expands beautifully on the breadth of unique musical directions The Mole is capable
of taking us in, now spread across fresh 2x12” vinyl and available digitally for the first time, along with
another limited edition cassette run - we hope you enjoy the ride as much as we do! More

Special remarks : LP Vinyl incl. printed inner sleeve

Tracklist LP:
A1. Dors-tu ? - A2. Regard en arrière - A3. Mélopée - A4. L’attente - A5. Elégie - B1. Prélude -
B2. La fille de la nuit - B3. Ni toi, ni moi - B4. Le beau jour - B5. Opaline - B6. Tant que mes yeux

Short Info:
On his fourth solo album, much as in Oh! (2020), the French composer, pianist and vocalist follows his
ongoing exploration of the crossroads between poetry and songs, piano and synth, old-time verses
and contemporary sounds. Inspired by the rhythms, effects and speech patterns of urban music, he
also delivers, with a warm and moving voice, the texts of three poetesses from the past.
Since 2013, Ezéchiel Pailhès has been crafting a unique French synth pop. On his first three albums,
he switched between songs inspired by poetry, instrumental ballads and electronica with hummed
choruses. This latest record is a collection of eleven new songs, two of which he wrote: "Opaline" and
"Ni toi, ni moi" (neither you nor me). The others are adaptations of poems written in the 16th, 18th and
19th centuries by French poetesses Louise Labé (1524-1566), Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-
1859) and Renée Vivien (1877-1909).
Poetesses from the past...
From classical music to songs, poetry adaptation is an old French tradition. "My universe has always
embraced the musicality of this literary genre," the artist recalls. He actually started this project in 2017
with poems and sonnets by William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, Victor Hugo and above all Marceline
Desbordes-Valmore, who can be heard again on songs such as "Dors-tu?" (Are you sleeping?),
"Élégie" or "L'attente" (The wait). A figure of romanticism, the author left her mark on the early 19th
century through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, particularly praised by Balzac, and
apparently a decisive influence on Verlaine and Baudelaire. "Marceline's poetry is very musical," says
Ezéchiel admiringly. "Her use of rhythm and repetition sounds great and takes on a new perspective
when set to music. In fact, she wrote some of her texts with singing in mind.”
“Ces longs secrets dont l'amour nous accuse,
Viens-tu les rompre en songe à mes genoux ?
Dors-tu, ma vie ! ou rêves-tu de moi ?”
“These long secrets for which love accuses us,
Do you come to my knees to break them in a dream?
Are you sleeping, my life! or do you dream of me”
(“Dors-tu ?”, after “Les pleurs” (the tears), 1833)
Besides her, we find the more famous, and rebellious, Renée Vivien, whose texts inspired three
songs, "Regard en arrière" (Looking backwards), "Mélopée" (Melopoeia) and "La fille de la nuit" (The
night girl). Sometimes nicknamed "Sapho 1900", this figure of lesbian culture and, more broadly, of
female genius, combined in her work the themes of desire, dreams, melancholy and the relationship
with nature.
“Ta forme est un éclair
Ton sourire est l’instant
Tu fuis, lorsque l’appel
T’implore, ô mon Désir !”
"Your shape is a spark of lightning
Your smile, the very moment
You flee, when the calling
Begs you, O my Desire!"
(After “Parle-moi, de ta voix pareille à l’eau courante” (Speak to me, with a voice like flowing waters)
and “Ta forme est un éclair” (Your shape is a spark of lightning), Renée Vivien, 1901)
Lastly, with "Tant que mes yeux" (As long as my eyes), Ezéchiel was inspired by a 1555 poem by
Renaissance poet Louise Labé, whose main topic explored female love, physical and spiritual desire,
and the torments and pains they generate.
" At the start of the project ", Ezéchiel continues, " I was interested in many poets, men and women,
past and present, before my selection was narrowed down to these three female authors. Their works,
often written in difficult or secret conditions, express a raging romanticism, a passionate soul, fuelled
by desperate and tormented love. I found it interesting, as a man coming from another world and time,
to face this otherness, to trade viewpoints. Obviously, I could loudly claim that the album was the
result of a concept, that it reflects today's world, and that it allows me to explore the notion of gender,
giving visibility to the work of a few women, while at the same time pairing these ancient texts with a
more modern and rhythmic music, and obviously, there is some truth in that. But more than anything, I
wanted to serve the text itself, to express the emotion and connection I felt with these works.”
Today's rhythms and prosody...
Ezéchiel Pailhès combines texts from French literature with electronic music, its effects and rhythms,
as well as a form of scansion that echoes rap, R&B or the current fusion between hip hop and pop,
which is part of our musical background and that of younger generations. "I wanted to cross-reference
texts from the beginning of the century with this type of music. I wanted to use today’s techniques to
tell the tale of different daily lives and experiences.
The album is thus marked by contemporary electronic orchestrations, in which he drops his favourite
instrument, the piano, and his digital collage technique to use more extensive synth melodies,
enhanced by drum machines, bringing a gentle and bright vibe to the romantic texts. Lastly, we can
hear slight digital tones of Auto-Tune, which Ezéchiel uses sparingly and inventively.

Beyond its sophistication, the term "melopoeia" means a "sung declamation", a "recitative song",
sometimes interpreted in a monotonous way. On this album, it could also refer to a sense of phrasing,
which does not come from rap, but rather from jazz, Ezéchiel's first love. " In the past, I tried to hide
my jazz culture, but it naturally came back on this new album, as can be heard, for instance, in Regard
en arrière.” With its verses anchored in our literary memory, the following track "Mélopée", perfectly
illustrates the album's vision. It manages to transcend eras, mixing past romanticism with a modern
prosody, fuelled by the nonchalance of hip hop and the warm chords of jazz.
“Qu’un hasard guide enfin mon désespoir tranquille
Vers l’eau d’une oasis ou les berges d’une île,
Où je puisse dormir, mon voyage accompli,
Dans la sécurité profonde de l’oubli”
"May chance guide my quiet sorrow, at last
To the water of an oasis, the shores of an island,
Where I may sleep, having traveled my way,
In the safe depths of oblivion".
(After “Sillages” (Trails), René Vivien, 1908) More

Special remarks : CD Digipack

Tracklist CD:
01. Dors-tu ? - 02. Regard en arrière - 03. Mélopée - 04. L’attente - 05. Elégie - 06. Prélude - 07.
La fille de la nuit - 08. Ni toi, ni moi - 09. Le beau jour - 10. Opaline - 11. Tant que mes yeux

Short Info:
On his fourth solo album, much as in Oh! (2020), the French composer, pianist and vocalist follows his
ongoing exploration of the crossroads between poetry and songs, piano and synth, old-time verses
and contemporary sounds. Inspired by the rhythms, effects and speech patterns of urban music, he
also delivers, with a warm and moving voice, the texts of three poetesses from the past.
Since 2013, Ezéchiel Pailhès has been crafting a unique French synth pop. On his first three albums,
he switched between songs inspired by poetry, instrumental ballads and electronica with hummed
choruses. This latest record is a collection of eleven new songs, two of which he wrote: "Opaline" and
"Ni toi, ni moi" (neither you nor me). The others are adaptations of poems written in the 16th, 18th and
19th centuries by French poetesses Louise Labé (1524-1566), Marceline Desbordes-Valmore (1786-
1859) and Renée Vivien (1877-1909).
Poetesses from the past...
From classical music to songs, poetry adaptation is an old French tradition. "My universe has always
embraced the musicality of this literary genre," the artist recalls. He actually started this project in 2017
with poems and sonnets by William Shakespeare, Pablo Neruda, Victor Hugo and above all Marceline
Desbordes-Valmore, who can be heard again on songs such as "Dors-tu?" (Are you sleeping?),
"Élégie" or "L'attente" (The wait). A figure of romanticism, the author left her mark on the early 19th
century through the quality of her texts and her formal inventions, particularly praised by Balzac, and
apparently a decisive influence on Verlaine and Baudelaire. "Marceline's poetry is very musical," says
Ezéchiel admiringly. "Her use of rhythm and repetition sounds great and takes on a new perspective
when set to music. In fact, she wrote some of her texts with singing in mind.”
“Ces longs secrets dont l'amour nous accuse,
Viens-tu les rompre en songe à mes genoux ?
Dors-tu, ma vie ! ou rêves-tu de moi ?”
“These long secrets for which love accuses us,
Do you come to my knees to break them in a dream?
Are you sleeping, my life! or do you dream of me”
(“Dors-tu ?”, after “Les pleurs” (the tears), 1833)
Besides her, we find the more famous, and rebellious, Renée Vivien, whose texts inspired three
songs, "Regard en arrière" (Looking backwards), "Mélopée" (Melopoeia) and "La fille de la nuit" (The
night girl). Sometimes nicknamed "Sapho 1900", this figure of lesbian culture and, more broadly, of
female genius, combined in her work the themes of desire, dreams, melancholy and the relationship
with nature.
“Ta forme est un éclair
Ton sourire est l’instant
Tu fuis, lorsque l’appel
T’implore, ô mon Désir !”
"Your shape is a spark of lightning
Your smile, the very moment
You flee, when the calling
Begs you, O my Desire!"
(After “Parle-moi, de ta voix pareille à l’eau courante” (Speak to me, with a voice like flowing waters)
and “Ta forme est un éclair” (Your shape is a spark of lightning), Renée Vivien, 1901)
Lastly, with "Tant que mes yeux" (As long as my eyes), Ezéchiel was inspired by a 1555 poem by
Renaissance poet Louise Labé, whose main topic explored female love, physical and spiritual desire,
and the torments and pains they generate.
" At the start of the project ", Ezéchiel continues, " I was interested in many poets, men and women,
past and present, before my selection was narrowed down to these three female authors. Their works,
often written in difficult or secret conditions, express a raging romanticism, a passionate soul, fuelled
by desperate and tormented love. I found it interesting, as a man coming from another world and time,
to face this otherness, to trade viewpoints. Obviously, I could loudly claim that the album was the
result of a concept, that it reflects today's world, and that it allows me to explore the notion of gender,
giving visibility to the work of a few women, while at the same time pairing these ancient texts with a
more modern and rhythmic music, and obviously, there is some truth in that. But more than anything, I
wanted to serve the text itself, to express the emotion and connection I felt with these works.”
Today's rhythms and prosody...
Ezéchiel Pailhès combines texts from French literature with electronic music, its effects and rhythms,
as well as a form of scansion that echoes rap, R&B or the current fusion between hip hop and pop,
which is part of our musical background and that of younger generations. "I wanted to cross-reference
texts from the beginning of the century with this type of music. I wanted to use today’s techniques to
tell the tale of different daily lives and experiences.
The album is thus marked by contemporary electronic orchestrations, in which he drops his favourite
instrument, the piano, and his digital collage technique to use more extensive synth melodies,
enhanced by drum machines, bringing a gentle and bright vibe to the romantic texts. Lastly, we can
hear slight digital tones of Auto-Tune, which Ezéchiel uses sparingly and inventively.

Beyond its sophistication, the term "melopoeia" means a "sung declamation", a "recitative song",
sometimes interpreted in a monotonous way. On this album, it could also refer to a sense of phrasing,
which does not come from rap, but rather from jazz, Ezéchiel's first love. " In the past, I tried to hide
my jazz culture, but it naturally came back on this new album, as can be heard, for instance, in Regard
en arrière.” With its verses anchored in our literary memory, the following track "Mélopée", perfectly
illustrates the album's vision. It manages to transcend eras, mixing past romanticism with a modern
prosody, fuelled by the nonchalance of hip hop and the warm chords of jazz.
“Qu’un hasard guide enfin mon désespoir tranquille
Vers l’eau d’une oasis ou les berges d’une île,
Où je puisse dormir, mon voyage accompli,
Dans la sécurité profonde de l’oubli”
"May chance guide my quiet sorrow, at last
To the water of an oasis, the shores of an island,
Where I may sleep, having traveled my way,
In the safe depths of oblivion".
(After “Sillages” (Trails), René Vivien, 1908) More

(colored eco vinyl)

Genre: House, Minimal, Electronica

Tracklist :
A1. The Spacetime Curvature (DJ Qu Remix) - A2. I Feel Stronger Now (Patrice Scott Remix) -
B1. Ripple Effect (Call Super Remix)

Short Info:
In the wake of Portable’s acclaimed album My Sentient Shadow comes a trio of remixes which expand
on his unique slant on techno and synth-pop. Finding three artists who reflect his own experimental
tendencies within dance music, Alan Abraham’s original productions head into unexpected new places
while retaining the physical, club-ready energy he manages to instill in his own creations.
A true auteur within techno, DJ Qu brings a sense of poise and drama to ‘The Spacetime Curvature’
as he patiently builds the track into a fierce peak time monster driven by snarling bass and his
signature sizzling, shuffled percussion.
Patrice Scott has a reliably smooth, immersive approach to deep Detroit house, and it lends itself
beautifully to Abraham’s melancholic vocal on ‘I Feel Stronger Now’.
Leaning in on the jazz dimension of his wide-ranging electronica, Call Super revels in the sweetness of
‘Ripple Effect’ and places delicate piano playing upfront before slipping into a relaxed, sentimental
kind of garage and eventually edging towards an uplifting, off-centre strain of house music.
Individual in their own right and yet naturally entwined with the emotional intention of the original
versions, this is a set of remixes which pay full credit to the source material while offering something
you won’t expect, like a great remix should do. More

Genre: House
Tracklist :
A.1 Lean on Something - A.2 Wooer at the Well - B.1 Paramol - B.2 Risotto
Short Info:
North London-by-way-of-Suffolk soundsmith Gerry Read delivers his first release for Circus
Company with the Lean on Something EP. After countless examples of his bold production moves
on many of our brother and sister labels including Herbert’s Accidental Jr to more recently on Koze’s
Pampa Records, Read has always displayed a kindred spirit mindset to ours in his adventurous
musical angles, and we are very happy to present this particular set of rock-solid and uniquely
diverse pieces.
The title track “Lean on Something” starts things off in fine and classic Read form, with knocking
found-sound percussion, fizzing textures and slick use of chopped and disorienting vocal sample
bits, as the track layers unfold into a whimsical and wondrous melodic stargazing anthem. “Wooer
at the Well” then follows and picks up the tempo with those fly live acoustic drum lines that gives
Gerry’s tracks that special beyond-electronic feeling, while once again the deft layering of such a
rich sound palette builds and builds giving other mavericks like Four Tet a sincere run for their
money. The mood then brilliantly shifts on the next track “Paramol”, where Read treats us to an
almost Robotnik-era Italo sprinkling amidst his otherwise forward-thinking club floor-filling
tendencies, with an amazing array of synth sections and an arrangement that should satisfy even
the neo-purists out there amongst us. Finally, “Risotto” wraps up the proceedings with a warm,
jazzy bouncer reminiscent of both Read’s as well as our own catalog’s charming early offerings,
and a kind of landing-at-home-base sensation with smoky cubist funk feelings and an equal parts
rough-yet-undeniably cool effervescent groove. More

LP

Tracklist:

A-Side
A1 DJ City - Cities In Dust (04:56 min)
A2 DJ City - Paris, Rome (04:43 min)
A3 DJ City - Oh Ah (04:46 min)
A4 DJ City - Bergtagen (04:57 min)
A5 DJ City - Safe (04:54 min)

B-Side
B1 DJ City - A Lover’s Discourse (03:28 min)
B2 DJ City - War & Peace (04:31 min)
B3 DJ City - Good Morning (06:48 min)
B4 DJ City - Drunk Satellites (03:02 min)
B5 DJ City - Bonus Track (03:26 min)

Short info:
DJ City hailing from Stockholm, a D.J., a poet, a producer, a chronicler of contemporary urban
nightlife, a romantic. His home the clubs of Europe, the streets of cities like Stockholm, Berlin, Milano,
Munich, Paris, Rome… Berlin where he lives a good part of the year has become a second home,
Cocktail D‘Amore, Panorama Bar, or his own party Bad Dad are his playgrounds. Places he D.J.s at, a
scene he is contemplating about on his first Album. Musically a journey between classic house,
scandinavian disco with a pleasant hint to pop. DJ City someone you want to know, meet and mingle
with. A true creature of metropolis, witty, charming, seductive, mysterious! An entertainer. The record
a mirror to his personality, find pleasure and fun, but beware there is always more below the surface. More

2024 repress

Tracklist A. XTC - B. Knee On Belly

Shortinfo: DJ Koze's 2013 album opus Amygdala has continued to bewitch all who encounter it since its release. Tipped as his own personal Sgt. Pepper, the sublime long-player revealed a fully-realised and personal body of work, complete with a classic songwriting at its core, House in its heart, and veins coursing with psychedelic color. "La Duquesa" was the album's dreamy single standout, a journey into deep, tropical ecstasy.

"XTC" begins in the same spirit, and captures the all the blissful allusions of its name, but its initial gentility belies the deep intensity to come. Floating pads glow with celestial ambience as a kick drum is gradually coaxed into solid form, and the introduction of spoken text begins the second act. "Many people are experimenting with the drug Ecstasy," it says, "…is the drug like the lie and meditation the truth? Or am I missing something that could really help me?". "XTC" then transforms: sweetly imploring tones become demanding, gentle gradients between chords turn hard-edged, and sharp hi-hats cut through the haze. Complete with Koze's signature percussive quirks, it drives towards the track's final pay off: an undeniable, all-consuming, irresistible high.

"Knee On Belly" recalls Koze at his most tongue-in-cheek and overt; it is bright, bold and literally brassy, using cut-up horns of all shapes and sizes to patchwork together his own unique arrangement. With the highs and mid ranges accounted for, Koze adds in a swollen, thrumming bass line to mix to bring this floor-filler to life. "Knee on Belly" recalls a raw, filtered and funky approach to groove, with a nod to disco house and the art of artful sampling, as it orbits between its own neon highs and simmering lows.
More

2 x 12”, black vinyl, 4C gatefold
My studio is my shelter, I feel comfortable there, surrounded by wonderful inspiring machines. A small cosy room where ideas emerge, mature, morph, and solidify into their final shape. 'Studio' is the result of spending time in that space. The album's intention is simple: Presenting a beautiful personal musical journey. The creative process in itself matters to me, the interaction with my instruments, the accidental discoveries, the successful execution of a vision and anything in between.
Most of the tracks on this album got revised countless times, and then even more, once I knew in which context and order I wanted to arrange them. I have been living with my music for months now, listening, thinking, changing, diving deeper and deeper into each piece.
I love albums, they are a beautiful long-form format where each part has its place, a journey from the start till the end. Each piece has its own story, its own flavour and history.
Some of them have been with me since a while already. There is material which I created years ago for installations and music derived from previous audiovisual works, all completely ripped apart and rearranged multiple times. During their creation my pieces often turn into something completely different, they repeatedly shift from one state to another until they become solid. What I consider a core element at the beginning might be later discarded completely, and a little detail in the background might become the essence.
Many explorations ended in the trash bin before the results had a chance to be part of 'Studio'. Things did not fall into place, did not feel right.
Other compositions had to fill the void instead, some created quickly in a rush of inspiration, some slowly, shy, questioning their significance. This album did not come into existence in a hurry, it took as long as it needed. I used the time to walk around my creations, to listen to them from the distance, physically, mentally, with friends, in all kinds of different contexts. I tried to understand what I just did. I started to see patterns, hidden motifs, things that were buried in between too many layers of sound. What is essential? What is ornament? I reduced, rearranged, added again.
The closer I got to the final state of 'Studio' the more clarity I found. The inherent doubts and the nagging voices from the inside got more quiet, and a sense of achievement started to manifest itself. More and more details just fell into place. And now it is done. After making electronic music since almost thirty years I don't care anymore about genres, about how to label things. It is music, my own personal music, and that's it. Call it electronica if you wish.
Process Notes
The music on this album has been constructed in Ableton Live. Most of the sounds have been created with my collection of beloved hardware synthesisers and effects, often further processed until something completely different did emerge. Sometimes I spend days in the studio just recording sounds or creating new presets, without already having a composition in mind. A few selected musical instruments contributed significantly to the palette of this album; a New England Digital Synclavier II, which also served as inspiration for the artwork, a Sequential Prophet VS, which is present on all Monolake albums since 1996, a Yamaha SY77, Linn Drum, and the Oberheim Xpander. And then there is Operator in Ableton Live, which I developed in 2004 and still love to use, and a lot of the other effects and instruments in the software. And of course my Granulator III instrument, and the PitchLoop89 audio effect. The final sonic world is often the result of radical processing of these elements, via filtering, pitch shifting, time stretching and other types of processing, both in Live and with my hardware. The good old Alesis Quadraverb deserves an honorary mention here, so does the AMS RMX 16.
Artwork
The cover combines a few complex elements. A composition of various lichen photographs, and a computational noise field that cuts rivers into the structure, where the inner artwork of the album shines through: The inside of the CD package and the gatefold vinyl cover shows a non-existing musical instrument, based on the user interface of the Synclavier II. I've always been fond of its futuristic button matrix with red LEDs, which conjures a sense of nostalgia for early computer systems. But I wanted more than just a photograph of it. Instead, I created a collage that not only consists of its existing controls but also integrated additional features it never possessed, though it might have in a subsequent iteration. In essence, I crafted a vision of a future that never materialized.
Geeky detail: When a Synclavier II is turned on, and the connected mainframe computer did not boot yet, the LEDs in the buttons light up in random patterns. The imaginary version of it does the same.
Track Listing:
01 The Elders Disagree
02 Thru Stalactites
03 Signals
04 Cute Little Aliens
05 Intermezzo
06 Global Transport
07 Stasis Field
08 Prime Lundy
09 Red Alphonso
10 Eclipse

Composed, mixed and produced by Robert Henke 2024.. More

LP

GENRE/S: Electronic-Jazz-Poetry-Vocals

TRACKLIST:
A1-Flammes d’autruches
A2-Free Root
A3-Kidnappeur
A4-The showdowless
A5-Ding Dong
B1-3 Spirit
B2-Ghedalia
B3-Moderne R&B
B4-Sprit 3
B5-Tango Fracatsal

SHORT INFO:

Fracatso was born during a spontaneous weekend break away from home of four good friends, emerging from the collective desire to record together in total freedom. This remarkable album that will delight you as it did us, is made of two distinct sessions recorded in Laura Lippie's Lyon apartment, composed on site using various acoustic and electronic instruments by Lippie, Iueke, Lowjack and Zaltan, fueled by wine, laughter and song and an honest need for aimless creation and poetical collaboration .

During an impromptu meeting in Amsterdam, Zaltan played to Gilb'R these unrevised original recordings lead by the powerful and whimsical words and voice of Lippie, and the known talent of the band creating bucolic arrangements in unformatted musical identities. Gilb'R instantly proposed to release the sessions on Versatile Records on the spot! And hear you have it , Fracatso lives.

More

Tracklist 12":

A1) Strung Out (Extended Version)
A2) That Song (Extended Version)
B1) Nobody Knows (Extended Version)
B2) Everybody

Toy Tonics presents the second EP by Lars Dales from DAM SWINDLE with multi-instrumentalist LORENZ RHODE aka SOUND SUPPORT.
Their first EP "Higher" on Toy Tonic last year reached no. 1 of BEATPORT House music charts and this follow up probably will be similarly successful as it has the same high quality of music and dancefloor catchiness every DJ dreams of.

The new "Everybody Knows" EP consists of four extremely groove infected house music tracks that connect the good things of 1990ies house with the indie disco of the 2000s. Think of Daft Punk in the studio with Kerri Chandler and LCD Soundsystem and you got the sound!

Dutch house wizzard Lars Dales (who also runs HEIST records) and keyboarder and super producer Lorenz Rhode (recently worked also with Purple Disco Machine) connected through their mutual love for dance music. After years of having worked together on several projects, such as the Dam Swindle liveshow, they finally got around to making more and more music together to release their amazing tracks under the name of SOUND SUPPORT: A perfect name because these tracks really support every DJs set ... they fill dancefloors in seconds and make people go mad.













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Tracklist:
A1) Zellmani - Yongheng Forever
A2) Zellmani & Piotr - Nuevo Portamento
B1) Zellmani & Gojiano - Smutt
B2) Zellmani - Eternal Loop of Emotions

Short info:
We are back with more songs from Nicolai Zellmani, presenting a selection of 4 previously unreleased tracks from the vaults, retouched and Deejay ready.
Fans of his first EP on Public Possession „Percussion Heaven“ will notice with delight: a similarly tribalistic, warm & spheric approach to Techno on the tracks „Yongheng Forever“ and „Smutt“. Then you have „Nuevo Portamento“ a crazy, harmonius leftfield anthem and „Eternal Loop“ the ultimate song for a late night (early morning) ecstasy experience. Big Tip!

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GENRE/S: Deep House

A1. Aqua Melopella
A2. Aqua Breeze
A3. Aqua Bass
B1. Millennium Silver
B2.Millennium Melopella

Club music reduced to its essential elements, those elements then pushed to their limits! Dangerously malfunctioning DJ tools! The Feeling of Power!
All that and much more on this striking new record from the one and only Barnt, the great reductional absurdist finally appearing on Studio Barnhus, providing concrete proof of the secret, decade-long love-affair between artist and label, after a bunch of Barnt b2b Boman DJ sets over the years, Kornél Kovács’ legendary “disco edit” of classic Barnt track “Chappell”, endless “Studio Barnthus” jokes, etc.
Aqua Breeze immediately makes its mark as an essential part of Barnt’s relatively small, absolutely profound catalogue, with digital files and vinyl records optimised for maximum soundsystem impact arriving in shops on September 27 More

Tracklist 12":

A1) No Ice
A2) Touch
B1) Warp Zone feat. Ally McMahon
B2) Fool

Toy Tonics presents a new EP by one of the label’s lead artists: CODY CURRIE. The London born talent comes with 4 new tracks that combine neo soul and jazz funk with uptempo house music
Cody usually plays all the instruments on his tracks working as the bassplayer, singer, guitar virtuoso and drummer and becoming one of the hot names in London's club scene as a DJ around 5 years ago at a young age.

His vibe is similar to his the soulful and extravagant sound as these his heros had. Not needing any help from anybody. Even mixing and engeenering all his music himself
Cody Currie’s sound is perfect for today’s DJ sets and fits with the current wave of funky house and groove oriented music coming from London that is taking over the clubs.















More

Tracklist:
A1) Party Boy (04:36 min)
A2) Party Boy Instrumental (04:36 min)
B1) DJ, Music, Money (05:19 min)
B2) Party Void (04:46 min)

Short info:
@rbt69 Bell Towers. Party Boy. Homage to life. In between Tokio City lights, neon signs, Paris Wine Bars, Stake Tartare, Berlin Späti vibes wunderbar. Not out of season for a reason, never change a winning team, party on full of steam. toot toot beep beep

More

Tracklisting:
A. El Baile De Los Muertos – B. Mania

Release Info:
Exactly three years after their debut release landed on Studio Barnhus,
MLiR are back with Trans-World Junktion, a summer-ready two-tracker
that packs enough musical twists and turns to put your favourite
quadruple 12-inch to shame. Half part awesome exotica, half vigourous
festival blitzin' from this Barcelona-based Swedish musical collective
fronted by Marco Gegenheimer and Einar Christoffersson. Artwork by
Studio Barnhus logo renderer and a/v show maker Leolyxxx. More