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CHLOE X BEN SHEMIE - HIGH SEASON
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Far from the obvious, Chloé and Ben Shemie (Suuns) have built parallel artistic paths that are exemplary both in their artistic freedoms and their powers of reinvention. If the first distinguished herself at the end of the 1990s as a deejaying figurehead. She quickly knew how to free herself from the shackles of club culture. The creation of her label Lumière Noire was preceded by two solo albums, The Waiting Room (2007) and One In Other (2010). She released her third disc Endless Revisions (2017) and followed with Sequenza (2021) on Lumière Noire, a duo with percussionist Vassilena Serafimova, where she defends her left-field artistic approach. Engaged in a quest for innovation and innovative musical territories, it was logical that Chloé came across the music of Ben Shemie. Founding member of the group SUUNS, recognized by the public and critics as one of the most exciting formations of the contemporary indie landscape. Since his beginnings, the Canadian has never ceased to twist rock music in all directions. In particular, he has made his voice the instrument of an exciting hybridization between organic sounds and retro-futuristic experimentations, always keeping an eye on a certain pop immediacy.
Their collaborative project, High Season, was created spontaneously as an extension of Shemie's first participation in Chloé's Endless Revisions album in 2017. High Season is above all the result of a human and artistic osmosis.
“We didn't really plan on making an album. We made songs without trying too hard to define any project. There is a somewhat DIY and spontaneous approach that I liked in the development of these pieces and I think it was important that we feel it when listening to the album” explains Chloé to describe the design of The Call.
Produced as a hybrid back-to-back, this first album consists of reactions, collisions and syntheses between Chloé's psychedelic writing tinged with a love of the dancefloor and the very particular voice of Ben Shemie, a poetic instrument with infinite possibilities. Nourished by this effervescence and the pleasure of collaboration between two artists who admire each other, the disc is placed at a crossroads: sometimes physical and efficient, sometimes heady and roaming. Inspirations run the gamut (kraut rock, ambient, minimal techno, cold wave) but High Season has succeeded in sounding like no other. As heard on Way Far, we recognize the shamanic vocalizations of Ben Shemie associated with a minimalist and mental club music, strangely warm and timeless, all in tantric crescendo. Minor Blues resonates like a primal slightly extra-terrestrial house, reminiscent of the futuristic evocative power of techno pioneers. Another highlight of the album, Hseas begins as a classic of Chloé's work before being languidly wrapped up in Ben Shemie's vocal parts, evoking the unlikely meeting of Aphex Twin and 80's Paul McCartney.
Album of sleepless nights and hazy days, hydroponic club music for melancholic punks, The Call writes its own mythology. It is a record that sounds like the tomb of clichés engulfing current music and a virgin forest to explore to imagine a new world.