With the arrival of their first album, Le Grand Couturier emerges as a trio intent on cultivating worlds both real and imagined. At the center of the project are Rachel Langlais (keyboards, vocals), François Groult (drums, percussion, electronics), and Adrien Leprêtre (guitar, synths), whose shared background in exploratory music groups sets the foundation for an audacious blend of analog tactility and improvisational freedom. Recorded at Capitola Analog studio, the sessions favored live interplay and the embrace of happy accidents, resulting in an album that breathes with instinct and spontaneity.
Le Grand Couturier carves out sonic territory that sits between exotic reverie and contemporary abstraction. The trio toys with familiar cues—tropical rhythms, languid melodies, hints of jazz and ambient drift—yet purposefully disconnects these elements from their expected contexts. Instead, each track unfolds in unpredictable layers, echoing the imaginative pastiches found in libraries and late-night radio. This unpredictability is enhanced by an ever-changing instrumental palette, inviting the listener to inhabit landscapes where analog warmth coexists with digital haze. The overall effect is one of gentle disorientation: melodies tilt and dissolve, patterns morph, and each piece is as likely to lull as it is to spark curiosity.
Rather than rely on technical flashiness, the music keeps a measured, quietly disruptive tone, yet there’s an undercurrent of playful sophistication reminiscent of the early work of Mark Fisher or Simon Reynolds’ writings on hauntology. The trio’s touch remains delicate and understated throughout, and there is a tangible respect for the virtues of restraint as improvisational energy is allowed to breathe without tipping into excess. At its core, the album is a dialogue between three distinctly attuned musical voices—drawing from jazz improvisation, experimental pop, and imaginary soundtrack traditions—resulting in something that feels both timeless and refreshingly present.
