claudia solal (voice)
benjamin moussay (keyboards)
Punk Moon, orchestral, unclassifiable, magnetic pop songs.
«Neither a style nor a genre, even less a repertoire: a singular attitude, yes, an approach to music as unique as it is identifiable.» Francis Marmande, Le Monde
More than 20 years after their debut as a duo, after Porridge Days and Butter in my brain (qualified as a masterpiece in Le Monde, 4 f in Télérama, nominated for the 2018’s Victoires du Jazz), after Room Service (Spoonbox quartet), Claudia Solal and Benjamin Moussay are back again with Punk Moon, a flaming new repertoire, the fourth part of their collaboration. Recorded at Studio Sextan in november 2023, the album will be released in spring 2025 on Jazzdor series’ record company.
For this completely original program, Claudia wrote ten poems in English, with suggestive titles (Slow war, Tomorrow I sleep, Battle dress, Punk moon...). The whole project gives birth to lunar and chimeric orchestral pop songs, a music in orbit…
Art house songs for borderless free music.
With Helium Balloon, as the first wave of words and sounds rushes into our ears, we are plunged into the singular world of a duo born a little more than 20 years ago, that tells about the universe, about flesh and bodies surrendering to love, as capsized vessels.
Claudia writes her poems in English, her mother’s tongue, as if to anchor in the breeding ground of constantly questioned original stories.
The duo’s music sounds like a confidence, as we immerse ourselves in those totally assumed pop songs which unfold their narratives of mingled feelings - desire, otherness, self-transformation, the struggle to build oneself, to reach emancipation.
One can feel like a groundswell which carries the whole thing, an underground groove which gradually forges a course evoking life, its restlessness, the distance left to reach unsuspected shores on which a bare foot will at last be able to leave its mark.
The duo’s unique, elaborate, yet immediately moving sound due to its obviousness, its fluidness, mixes piano, modular synth, voice, mastered effects, and tells even more of the mystery of a musical world revealing itself to us, as it unfurls.
Because it’s truly about a journey.
Well settled in this almost lunar vessel, which comfortably transports us while jostling us at the first detours, and tells us without really telling us, we embark for hopefully adventurous dreamlands.
Talk to me into the deep
Philippe Ochem, director of Jazzdor
Punk moon
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helium ballon
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battle dress
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oxidation
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eiderdown for your gown
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direct light
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swollen river
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tomorrow I sleep
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devastated queen
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slow war
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punk moon
A hymn to the Moon, a hymn to women…
Protesting woman, disturbing, volcanic, indocile, powerful, sexual, wild woman... Chiaroscura woman. Primitive or urban, cosmic, universal woman. Woman in search of identity, invoked, repressed identity or exposed for everyone to see. Woman who is a prey to doubts and mixed feelings, given over to her own violence, her desire, her capacity or inability to love, to her basic duality (to quote Anaïs Nin) : «There were always in me, two women at least, one woman desperate and bewildered, who felt she was drowning and another who would leap into a scene, as upon a stage, conceal her true emotions because they were weaknesses, helplessness, despair, and present to the world only a smile, an eagerness, curiosity, enthusiasm ...»
The texts have a war-like nature, and draw on romantic, sexual, intimate fields. They talk about our world. They were partly inspired by the post-war american movement called confessional poetry, which includes Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, W.D. Snodgrass...
Butter in my brain
« Not a style, or a system or even a repertoire, but a completely singular approach to music, both unique and perfectly identifiable. The best news of the year, a vital spark and promise for the future, jazz on a background of joyful wisdom. A masterpiece ». Francis Marmande, Le Monde
« Enchanted. Resolutely original, Claudia Solal gives away with pianist Benjamin Moussay a set of oniric pop songs. Solal’s voice is made for poetry. She could be James Joyce’s daughter ». Michel Contat, Télérama
« Excellency is the least you can say - excellency, but naked and raw, with a cutting edge, like truth ». Louis-Julien Nicolaou, Les Inrocks
« Sensual music, masterly, accomplished, and free. These days are in need of such challenging beauty ». Bruno Pfeiffer, Libération
« Clear forms resulting from an inspiration drawn from the diversity that connects Steve Reich to Debussy, Aphex Twin to pop music, minimalism to the climates of kinetic music. The shimmering of a jazz that breaks down barriers and dazzles the listener ». Guy Darol, Jazz magazine
« Magnetic, powerful, quivering and disturbing ». Jacques Prouvost, Jazzques
« Butter in my brain is a magnificent and bewitching musical object ». Denis Desassis, Musiques Buissonières
« An adventurous music, as surprising in substance as in form ». Jérôme Gillet, Froggy’s delight
« A totally unclassifiable duo. A complete success ». Xavier Prévost, Les Dernières nouvelles du Jazz
« A mesmerizing tone, by two young masters of their art. Splendid! ». Action Jazz
