In just a year of existence, Chloé’s Lumière Noire has brought emerging artists and promising newcomers together – and this first compilation of 13 brand new tracks expands the roster, exposing the label’s eclectic vision in full daylight. When Chloé talks about her label, she puts forward the fundamental values that informed her own musical journey, her trust in her own musical taste – and, of course, the predominance of human relationships: “I followed my bliss and only commissioned tracks from artists that I respect and whose music I love. That to me is Lumière Noire’s musical palette.” With this 13-track, unmixed compilation, Chloé makes a case for a label aesthetic that is based in open-mindedness. Familiar, elemental Lumière Noire artists are represented, as are new faces, producing a kind of group photo presaging what’s next for the fledgling label.
Lyon’s Markus Gibb leads the track listing with Kuru with a deep chiaroscuro matching the label’s ethos, followed by other mainstays Il Est Vilaine’s Farenheit 451, which evokes Ray Bradbury’s retro-dystopic angst with the band’s usual electro-pop elegance. Sutja Gutierrez, who released in debut EP, The Legend of Time on Lumière Noire in April, pursues his electroShamanism with the ceremonial Allodoxaphobia, while Iñigo Vontier (whose EP Aluxes came out on the label in late 2017) brings his C O N T R A project online with track Taurus, a further development in voodoo house. Elsewhere, Suuns lead singer Ben Shemie, who lent his fascinating art-rock croon to Recall, a single from Chloé’s Endless Revisions LP, contributes A Million Kinds, a synthy, psych-pop debut that is as brilliant as it is surprising. On to the freshman class: Dutch producer Drvg Cvltvre (who gets personal kudos from Chloé with each new 12”) brings the uncompromising dark electro of his hypnotic and claustrophobic Last Rites. Jonathan Fitoussi’s airy, minimalistic Cercles Polaires brings the respite of his recent Versatile Espaces Timbrés LP (a collaboration with Clemens Hourrières): “I met him at Xavier Veilhan’s Studio Venezia at the Venice Biennale. He’s a great guy, and his universe is unique,” says Chloé. Benedikt Frey’s deep techno track Iaon, is on par with his smash 2017 album, Artificial, out on ESP Institute. First-timers are also part of the recruits: Bajram Bili with the ten cerebral minutes of Restart, Théo Muller with the ultra-deep Douce Transe, and Lumi, a Basque band that fuses electronic sounds with acoustic instruments, brings the compilation to a close with a track commissioned by Chloé. These audacious choices are anchored down with the likes of Permanent Vacation pioneer Lauer’s hooky, 80s-infused Pythor (“Just like him, I was a resident of the Robert Johnson, and he was a guest of mine at one of my Lumière Noire nights at the Rex. He is one of these people whose music I highly appreciate“); Aergeworc & Franck Agrario, half of English duo Swayzak David Brown’s project, weaves an ethno* mood into Grace’s techno. Bringing together different generations, genres, and styles? That may not necessarily be Chloé’s MO. She invokes a more arbitrary, personal logic: “I like to mix of-the-moment tracks and more timeless one, but the rule is above all ‘do I love this or not?’. That was my ethos when I started Lumière Noire.” In that way, the label is definitely in keeping with its time…