The song called “The Blues” provides a first hint: Julien loves the Blue Note, even though he plays it his own way: relaxed, filling the damp air with notes that weep on a groove as organic as it is arid, worthy of an old Texan bluesman . “Ghost Town” explains the aesthetics of this fluid music. The guitarist fills the space with his clear, shimmering notes full of sharp frequencies and a hint of echo.

Recorded in an intimate mode, “Sweet Tension” instead refers to Bill Frisell and his unresolved sentences dressed in electronics with weightless melodies that are nonetheless pulled earthwards. As for the biting “Last Call from The Factory”, it drills into fusion with a coat of psychedelia. Finally, on the song titled “George Harrison”, Julien was able to recreate the almost mystical and reputedly elusive essence of the man who, behind the Beatles, adorned the music of his partners with delicacy by giving it extra soul.

All this is only half of the ten pieces on the album, each composed by the leader. But the rest follows the same path; sometimes reserved, sometimes lively, always unpredictable. Tassin takes different genres but gives them back in his own personal way, composing a repertoire that is remarkably varied but still homogeneous in that all the titles are marked by the particular timbre of his instrument and his original phrasing.

The guitarist is beautifully assisted by two experienced accomplices, veterans of all kinds of musical hybrids: double bassist Nicolas Thys and drummer Dré Pallemaerts,. They play with simplicity, bending their art to the compositions and their atmospheres.

Read less