EZECHIEL PAILHES - Forced Exposure

$14.50 IN STOCK

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.

$28.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 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.

$13.50 IN STOCK

On his fourth solo album, much as in Oh! (CC 020CD/CCS 111LP, 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). 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. Besides Marceline's very musical poetry, you 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. 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. 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 the musical background and that of younger generations. The album is thus marked by contemporary electronic orchestrations, in which he drops his favorite 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, you 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. LP version includes printed inner sleeve.

$26.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes printed inner sleeve. On his fourth solo album, much as in Oh! (CC 020CD/CCS 111LP, 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). 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. Besides Marceline's very musical poetry, you 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. 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. 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 the musical background and that of younger generations. The album is thus marked by contemporary electronic orchestrations, in which he drops his favorite 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, you 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.

$15.50 IN STOCK

On his third solo album, following the success of Éternel été, Ezechiel Pailhès, 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. For Oh!, Pailhès 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 sincere", and "J'avais froid", they were all written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th century French poetess, still fairly unknown. With Oh!, 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. 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. From classical to pop music, the adaptation of poetry is part of a long tradition in France. On the album, songs like "La sincere" 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), synthesizer, 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...

$25.00 NOT IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code; beautiful poster inlay with cover photo and lyrics. On his third solo album, following the success of Éternel été, Ezechiel Pailhès, 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. For Oh!, Pailhès 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 sincere", and "J'avais froid", they were all written by Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, a 19th century French poetess, still fairly unknown. With Oh!, 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. 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. From classical to pop music, the adaptation of poetry is part of a long tradition in France. On the album, songs like "La sincere" 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), synthesizer, 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...

$23.00 LOW STOCK LEVEL

LP version. 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. This deliberately mysterious and poetic introduction, supported by light electronic effects, is soon combined with a light beat, organ chords and vocalizations by the artist. Pailhès defines himself as a "jolly fellow" (confirmed by the music of his electro-pop duo Nôze), but he comes across as quite gentle and stellar, just like this collection of eleven tracks that he composed in his Montreuil home studio. Following the footpath of Divine, his first solo release from 2013 (CC 013CD/CCS 079LP), Tout Va Bien is more intimate, marking Pailhès's taste for finely crafted moods and drifts. Songs like "Tout Va Bien", "Éternel Été", and "Promesse", shift between carelessness, bliss, bitterness, and anxiety. Titles such as "Octobre", "Boyd London", or "Le Fou Du Phare", illustrate Ezechiel's gift for composing instrumental ballads, with equally versatile emotions though drawing from cinema, supported by whispered or sung vocalizations. 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." Even though he composed the pieces on Tout Va Bien on the piano, 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 or several digital cuts and superimpositions enabling him to generate what he calls "sound illusions", through unusual associations between the timbres of various instruments. Parallels can be drawn to Moondog's piano melodies, Matthew Herbert's sonorous and rhythmic tinkering and techno "fringe", or even the graceful fantasy of Nino Rota.

$15.50 IN STOCK

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. This deliberately mysterious and poetic introduction, supported by light electronic effects, is soon combined with a light beat, organ chords and vocalizations by the artist. Pailhès defines himself as a "jolly fellow" (confirmed by the music of his electro-pop duo Nôze), but he comes across as quite gentle and stellar, just like this collection of eleven tracks that he composed in his Montreuil home studio. Following the footpath of Divine, his first solo release from 2013 (CC 013CD/CCS 079LP), Tout Va Bien is more intimate, marking Pailhès's taste for finely crafted moods and drifts. Songs like "Tout Va Bien", "Éternel Été", and "Promesse", shift between carelessness, bliss, bitterness, and anxiety. Titles such as "Octobre", "Boyd London", or "Le Fou Du Phare", illustrate Ezechiel's gift for composing instrumental ballads, with equally versatile emotions though drawing from cinema, supported by whispered or sung vocalizations. 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." Even though he composed the pieces on Tout Va Bien on the piano, 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 or several digital cuts and superimpositions enabling him to generate what he calls "sound illusions", through unusual associations between the timbres of various instruments. Parallels can be drawn to Moondog's piano melodies, Matthew Herbert's sonorous and rhythmic tinkering and techno "fringe", or even the graceful fantasy of Nino Rota.

$19.50 IN STOCK

LP version. 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 epic. A voyage in a free world, where creation knows no formal constraints, 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 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 sound unexpected. Here are captivating melodies like siren-songs, sometimes dressed in a simple lala or lyrics by David Lafore -- ports of call offering a sweetness that is at times extremely melancholy, pieces whose implacable refrains take root the first time you listen to them. This is indeed a divine crossing of wide-ranging references such as Serge Regianni, D'Angelo, Bernard Hermann, Timber Timbre, and Stevie Wonder but also Henri Duparc, Moondog, Keith Jarrett and Tony Bennett). Ezechiel's career as a pianist has evolved on the stages where he has been performing for years as a duo with Nicolas Sfintescu (Nôze). 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.

$17.00 IN STOCK

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, 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 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 sound unexpected. Here are 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 of wide-ranging references such as Serge Regianni, D'Angelo, Bernard Hermann, Timber Timbre, and Stevie Wonder but also Henri Duparc, Moondog, Keith Jarrett and Tony Bennett). Ezechiel's career as a pianist has evolved on the stages where he has been performing for years as a duo with Nicolas Sfintescu (Nôze). 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.