LINE UP
Ann Shirley: vocals
Florent Mateo: vocals
Christophe Panzani: saxophone
Pierre Perchaud: guitar
Tony Paeleman: keyboards
Anne Paceo: drums
Anne Paceo’s odyssey takes on a powerful introspective dimension with Bright Shadows, imbued with enchanting poetry.
In addition to composing and shaping the rhythmic direction, the drummer also takes the mic to better “sing her poem to the world.”
Hybrid compositions, a captivating and colorful aesthetic… Hazy pop, velvety soul, electric bursts, subtle minimalist motifs, and even hints of West African influences… Anne Paceo explores the shadows that linger here and there to extract beams of light. “The shadow enters the light, and all around, life goes on.”
A sensitive composer and eternal contemplative, Anne Paceo tells redemptive stories around themes that inhabit and accompany her.
Her message is dedicated both to the foreigner who leaves their homeland behind, and to the stranger in their own country — or even in their own body. The latter is, in a way, herself, and also each of us. In doing so, she confronts and reflects another of her obsessions: transformation. That moment when one changes, evolves, sheds their skin to become someone else. One is then forced to look within, to examine their inner world in order to, once again, step out of the shadows and bathe in light. To question what keeps this strange world spinning, and how we ourselves keep turning within it. This is the redemptive driving force behind the sparkling shadows Anne Paceo unfolds in Bright Shadows.
For this new chapter, she surrounds herself with five eclectic and unclassifiable musicians from various musical galaxies.
Singers Florent Mateo, with his lyrical gravitas, and Ann Shirley, whose warm tones mesmerize us, are lifted by the nocturnal distortions of hypnotic keyboardist Tony Paeleman, the colorful harmonies of guitarist Pierre Perchaud, and the incandescent breath of saxophonist Christophe Panzani.
“A great record.”
“An album that is both demanding and accessible.”
“A universal, borderless album that could find its way onto the turntables of all lovers of visceral music and poetry.”