ATLANTIS

Atlantis: A gigantic island received by Poseidon, god of the oceans, when the ancient gods shared out the Earth, it was swallowed by a cataclysm around 9600 BC. According to legend, the corruption and materialism of its inhabitants caused its destruction. Mirroring a world with such absurd policies resulting in devastating destruction, as it is devoid of any environmental consciousness. It is therefore no coincidence that Anne Paceo has named this new album Atlantis.

Summer 2022: Enthused by a first diving experience, the French composer and drummer travels to Portugal to dive deep into the Ocean. In the water, at once icy and murky, she discovers an emotion close to ecstasy, defined by Romain Rolland as ‘oceanic perception’. It is a mixture of sensations blending weightlessness with a sense of fulfilment and the dissipation of time. ‘It is a place, here, where you take leave of yourself,’ writes Alessandro Barrico in Ocean Sea, which Anne Paceo loved reading. ‘What you are gently detaches from you, little by little. And with each step, you leave it behind, on the shore that knows no time and lives only one day, always the same. The present disappears thus you become memory.’

In the months that followed, Anne dreamed of the ocean, falling asleep thinking of these new sensations, ‘that tipping point,’ she says, ‘when you descend into the depths, when body and mind are nothing but water, when heart and time slow down, when the brain stops thinking to focus on the sensation of the body, the sound of bubbles.’

Water thus becomes a symbol of renewal and a place of contemplation, inspiring the birth of new songs. There are thirteen of them, inviting us, each in their own way, on a chimerical, soothing journey. Directed by Anne Paceo, Atlantis stands out for the dexterity of its shaping. Around her, Christophe Panzani on tenor saxophone, Zacharie Ksyk on trumpet, Gauthier Toux on keyboards and Oxy on synthesiser. Recorded at the Pigalle studio in Paris after many months on tour, it was guided by a desire to return home in the evening. The desire to immerse oneself (again and again!) into the work in progress… Including mixing to which more time than usual was devoted.

Despite the vitality of improvisation, characteristic of jazz, nothing is left to chance, no detail has been ignored. This is hardly surprising from someone who, having won multiple awards and been crowned with three Victoires du Jazz, was granted the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Atlantis has an assumed pop ambition and a hybrid texture. Anne has listened to folk music in the vein of Joni Mitchell and Patrick Watson; Björk of course; for the textures of the sound, the electro of Steve Reich or Oneohtrix Point Never; the disparate lyricism of Bon Iver and the synthetic explorations of James Blake among others. But her references are not only musical, which contributes to the great narrative depth of Atlantis, nourished by relevant texts, from Mariette Navarro’s Ultramarins to Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic.

And because it is about letting go, beyond the marine paradigm, Anne Paceo has allowed her retina to be imbued with the images of Wong Kar-Wai, for his treatment of colour, for his ability to turn reality into a dreamlike universe; David Lynch for his cyclical structures, which Atlantis echoes… and his constant twists. ‘I too am looking to find a different path to my own, one that mixes musical ideas, a crossroads of genres,’ says Anne Paceo.

She has drawn on sound recordings such as sperm whale codas, whale chants, surf sounds, and so on. As well as in the collaborative work, so dear to Anne Paceo, for whom being a solo artist should not restrict her creative horizon. While she called on singers she knows well to surround her on stage and in the studio, Gildaa and Cynthia Abraham, and the pen of Sandra Nkaké and Billie Bird, two new partners have emerged. While working on ‘Tant qu’il y a de l’eau’, Anne heard the voice and lyrics of Laura Cahen, who happily lent herself to the game. As for Piers Faccini, he also responded to Anne’s request on ‘Restless’, evoking the lack of the ocean for a person in search of inner peace.

Then there is Anne’s singing. On ‘Love Song’, she once again reveals the beauty of her timbre, she who for a long time felt it was wrong for her to sing, fully but simply embodying this love that she declares ‘in the hollow of the ear’. An additional voice, her own, celebrates bonding with the other. Ultimately, this is what the French musician has always sought. Whether we are talking about the sea, the matrix, the deep blue, the fleeting of time, the intimate and the political remain intrinsically linked.

Listening to the imaginary Atlantis drawn by Anne Paceo, we are happily transported by a pop trend, familiar, yet intoxicatingly exotic. In times saturated with constant violence of all sorts, this is precisely what we need to catch our breath.