L'Oasis

Description

After *L'envol* in 2014, alternating between frank brightness and melancholic spleen, the time for rest is far from over for Ivan Tirtiaux, who is now releasing his second album. *L'oasis* invites you into a collection of eight songs in French, embraced by a folk sound as sensitive as Nick Drake's or as expansive and warm as Terry Callier's, nurtured by the playful flexibility of jazz, and caressed by Chico Buarque's swaying euphony. You will find as many nooks to nestle into as vast plains to encourage you to set sail: the album serves as much as a refuge as it provides provisions for a departure. The songwriter allows his memories to wander through his green-thumbed grandfather's greenhouse (L'oasis, dotted with roses named after heroines), and "Caillou" circulates between tense guitar loops and breaths of air, while elsewhere, a certain animality growls, seeking exorcism (Dans la poitrine) or deliverance (La ruade). Tirtiaux teases out his sense of melodic nuance, giving his arrangements singular twists. As if to better carve out a harmonious passage between fine craftsmanship, a love for stories, and eminently contemporary resonances. The instruments (acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, banjo, percussion, strings, marimba, analog keyboards…) are all at the service of the language, breathing freely, a truly coherent body.