Shifting Forms

Description

A true independent singer-songwriter, Elie Zoé releases his first album under his real name, the one he chose, the first carried by his rediscovered voice after his transition last year. Shifting Forms, their fourth studio album, follows in the lineage of the minimalist pop and rock aesthetic of their previous albums. This collection of nine songs, built on the branches of a fifteen-year corpus, is the new treehouse from which the artist invites us to observe an unknown landscape: that of metamorphosis, alignment, a different way of inhabiting the world. The first step for Elie Zoé was to relearn how to sing and to create a welcoming space with musician and producer Louis Jucker. Longtime companions, they built a new recording studio using reclaimed materials on the premises of the Humus Records label in La Chaux-de-Fonds. These projects developed in parallel: the creation of this safe space where songs could be born freely, and the composition of melodies allowing Elie Zoé to reclaim his instrument. This "do-it-yourself" approach remains essential for the self-taught artist. When the time came to record with Louis Jucker's vintage microphones and analog effects, drummer Luc Hess (Coilguns, Beurre) joined the adventure. His stripped-down and raw playing resonates as much with Elie Zoé's earthy guitars as with their ample and generous pianos. Mixed by Louis Jucker and Elie Zoé, then mastered by Johann Meyer (Gojira), the album is both burning and soothing. It is a free, raw, simple, and direct manifesto.