Haléïs

Supported by: Le Comptoir

In the course of 2020, Juliette Meyer (vocals, lyrics) brought together Thibault Gomez (piano), Fanny Lasfargues (electro-acoustic bass) and Benoît Joblot (drums) to create Haléïs, which means "resounding cry" in old French.

Haléïs combines song and jazz, but is not necessarily vocal jazz. Its influences are less Billie Holiday than Babx, Jacques Brel or Barbara. With its repetitive rhythms and powerful upswings, the song format dominates while leaving room for improvisation.

If Meyer comes up with texts and compositions, there is a second phase of collective writing. The result is an organic unity between voice and instruments where words and sound blend together to give shape to an open sound material.

The texts of Juliette Meyer (who did not have a literary education for nothing) are full of poetry and marked by the prosody of the French language. Greatly inspired by René Char, her favourite writer, she reveals the lyrical experience of a "self" filled with absence, heartbreak and silence. But an ethereal, swirling music responds to this dark universe by giving the breath that is missing to the speaking subject. In the same way, the black and white imaginary of the lyrics is counterbalanced by a beautiful palette of timbres and colours. Rooted in darkness but turned towards light, Haléïs is characterised by a chiaroscuro atmosphere.

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