Gaspard Augé, best known as one half of Justice, the duo that united rock and rave in the mid-2000s, has announced an impending debut solo album, Escapades, alongside the release of his new single “Hey!” Escapades, set for a June 25th digital/physical release via Genesis / Ed Banger Records / Because Music, seals his reputation as a master of maximalism, an electronic auteur whose imaginary soundtracks are a refreshing jolt out of reality. There are some elements that are spiritually in tune with Justice – the crunch and whirr of the synths, the cinematic enormity of it all – but Escapades sounds like a UFO landing from another galaxy; a baroque masterpiece that reimagines European classical music for the 21st century. The “Hey!” single is once again paired with a Filip Nilsson-directed visual (watch here) filmed in Turkey, featuring the mindblowing stunt of a person performing the song’s violin part while riding full-clip on horseback. “This is the first thing that came to my mind while recording the track,” states Augé, “a mongolian horse rider playing the violin in the steppe, an epic ride with a far east feel. Filip Nilsson and the amazing rider Metin Yılmaz made that dream come true.”
The last time Augé surfaced publicly was when he and Justice’s Xavier De Rosnay won a 2019 Grammy for their album Woman Worldwide, a triumphant rework of songs from across the band’s first decade. But while Justice are consistently working on new music, Augé felt it was time to figure out his musical identity outside of the duo. He knew he wanted to make something instrumental and to experiment freely “without overthinking it.” The result is a panoply of massive dreamscapes and sentimental sugar rushes that conjure images of pagan rituals in orbit or spaghetti westerns on a space station, creating a sonic utopia that crisscrosses from prog revival, to dancefloor thumpers, to psychedelic folk, to Italian horror film soundtracks, and every conceivable point in between.
To bring his ostentatious vision to life, Augé teamed up with French composer Victor le Masne (known for his work with Chilly Gonzales and Metronomy’s Joseph Mount) – and the pair worked across two Paris studios: Enterprise – where they used a synthesizer that had once belonged to Yes – and Motorbass Studios, which had belonged to their friend, the late legend Philippe Zdar of Cassius. Whereas Justice are famous for tweaking their music in the edit, Escapades came together in a lightning-quick marathon, recorded within two months. The result of that process is an album that evokes a sense of bombastic playfulness. If Augé has any mission statement for the new work, it’s that he ignores narrow definitions of “good taste or bad taste” and wants to capture the innocence of enjoying music in your youth, where you’re guided first and foremost by feeling. “I've always been obsessed with making larger than life music,” he says. “Mostly because it's more fun.”
WATCH “HEY!” SHORT FILM
LISTEN TO “HEY!”
WATCH THE “FORCE MAJEURE” VISUAL
ESCAPADES TRACKLIST
1. Welcome
2. Force Majeure
3. Rocambole
4. Europa
5. Pentacle
6. Hey!
7. Captain
8. Lacrimosa
9. Belladone
10. Casablanca
11. Vox
12. Rêverie
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