with the participation of : 

Mich Leemans, Jef Mertens, Winter Family, Andy Moor, Karen Willems, Sébastien Sth Biset, Joke Lanz, Jozef Dumoulin, Sandrine Verstraete, Roxie Rookie, Impostor, John Dikeman, Colette Broeckaert, Jean-Philippe Poncin, Julia Kent, Aki Onda, Jasper Stadhouders, My Cat Is An Alien, Gilbert van Drunen, Rhodri Davies, Nele Möller, Mauro A. Pawlowski, Marc Jacobs.

Zenaïde is a thrilling piece with a very cinematic feel to it, meticulously constructed by Jean D.L. with the auditory input of an impressive list of participating artists, which include Aki Onda, Rhodri Davies, Joke Lanz, My Cat is an Alien, Andy Moor, Karen Willems, John Dikeman, Julia Kent, Jasper Stadhouders, Mauro A. Pawlowski and many more. The stunning black and white photographs of Bénédicte Blondeau on the 6 panel album cover further enhance the cinematographic qualities of this feat.

« The project started in the bud I think with Lee Ranaldo’s album ‘Outside My Window The City Is Never Silent: A Bestiary’ on which Lee uses ‘recycled’ samples from him and other musicians to compose his own pieces. That way of creating music had impressed me very much when hearing it the first time. At the same time, I am formed as a filmmaker, so I like to create cinematic music pieces. Furthermore over the years of programming, mixing, and playing I have met a lot of interesting and very diverse musicians whose work I love. From all of these elements together started to grow the idea over the years to create a soundtrack to an imaginary, non-existing film using only samples of what musician friends were willing to send me and some sounds from my archive. »

Jean De Lacoste is simultaneously a musician and a video artist, but the approach he has to organised sounds and organised images seems reversed – his music, either when he plays the guitar or when he uses field recordings, is an imagetic and somewhat hazy soundscape, while his musically structured films try to provoke abstract emotions through the titillation of memories and landscape. 

With the participation of :
Mich Leemans, Jef Mertens, Winter Family, Andy Moor, Karen Willems, Sébastien Sth Biset, Joke Lanz, Jozef Dumoulin, Sandrine Verstraete, Roxie Rookie, Impostor, John Dikeman, Colette Broeckaert, Jean-Philippe Poncin, Julia Kent, Aki Onda, Jasper Stadhouders, My Cat Is An Alien, Gilbert van Drunen, Rhodri Davies, Nele Möller, Mauro A. Pawlowski, Marc Jacobs.

Arrangement & mix by Jean D.L.
Mastering: Richard Comte
Photos: Bénédicte Blondeau
Layout: Harco Rutgers

Review by Sven Schlijper-Karssenberg in Vital Weekly:
« What, the actual F*** is up with the use of those bleeding singing bowls or whatever the horrific twee and unstable chiming messing percussion items of horror is called in electro-acoustic music nowadays?! One can simply not put on an album these months in this genre, or one loony or another is hammering away all too mock-Zen-like at the metal cups of terror. And no, I do not care about the background in spiritual or ritual use or however virtuoso the player is. It’s too much, simply everywhere. So much so that the use is rendered totally and offensively bland, kitsch-like.

So for the first three minutes, with crows sounding off ominously, the above-mentioned other thunder of worry is the insistent use of the nauseating chimes. Fortunately, in Jean D.L.’s aural cinema-scope tapestry of travelogue-like snapshots, the ear is quickly transported towards different and much more pleasant vistas. Some claustrophobic, others warm and homely, stately set next to film-soundtrack saccharine. Ear-cinema, this is a collected world-recording in 28 minutes.

Inspired by Lee Ranaldo’s album ‘Outside My Window The City Is Never Silent: A Bestiary’ Jean De Lacoste set out to « create a soundtrack to an imaginary, non-existing film using only samples of what musician friends were willing to send [him] and some sounds from [his] archive. » Sounds for this work were provided by an impressive list of participating artists, which include Aki Onda, Rhodri Davies, Joke Lanz, My Cat is an Alien, Andy Moor, Karen Willems, John Dikeman, Julia Kent, Jasper Stadhouders, Mauro A. Pawlowski and many more.

De Lacoste manages to direct the ear to details as much as passed long lines. From close-ups to panoramic shots via flash-backs and sneak peaks in a flash. Nostalgia meets romanticism via futuristic projection on-towards naturalistic ‘tuning of the world’-photography. Above all, although the construction and direction are laid bare throughout the piece, De Lacoste directs with a deft hand for narrative and tension. He follows the poetic line of the best short story writer by diving into medias res, working the (aural) action at hand and snapping out of the situation to jump-cut or fade to the next one. Leaving the listener in a continuous stream of bewildering wonder and thrilling openendedness. »

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Review by Jan Willem Broek in Subjectivisten:
« Al meer dan 15 jaar brengt de Belgische muzikant Jean De Lacoste als Jean D.L. muziek naar buiten die je misschien soms beter kunt opzetten als de nacht is gevallen. Met gitaren en tapemanipulaties weet hij innovatieve werken vol experimenten, drones, ambient en veldopnames te fabriceren. Daarbij werkt hij dikwijls samen met anderen of sterker nog samenwerken lijkt hem in het bloed te zitten. Dat bereikt misschien wel een climax op zijn nieuwe album Zenaïde, uitgebracht op het fijne prestigieuze label Esc.rec. uit Deventer, dat één langgerekt stuk is van ruim 28 minuten. Hierop werkt hij namelijk samen met (zit u goed?) Mich Leemans, Jef Mertens, Winter Family, Andy Moor, Karen Willems, Sébastien Sth Biset, Joke Lanz, Jozef Dumoulin, Sandrine Verstraete, Roxie Rookie, Impostor, John Dikeman, Colette Broeckaert, Jean-Philippe Poncin, Julia Kent, Aki Onda, Jasper Stadhouders, My Cat Is An Alien, Gilbert van Drunen, Rhodri Davies, Nele Möller, Mauro A. Pawlowski en Marc Jacobs. Met sommige heeft hij al eerder samengewerkt dan wel albums uitgebracht. De muziek heeft als inspiratiebron Lee Ranaldo’s Outside My Window The City Is Never Silent – A Bestiary (2002), waarop hij samples van hemzelf en anderen recyclet om er zijn eigen muziek mee te scheppen. Het stuk van Jean D.L. is in feit ook een collage van geluiden maar ook stijlen en artiesten. Zo hoor je avant-garde, experimentele muziek, neoklassiek, veldopnames, abstracte elektronica, musique concrète, drones, dark ambient, plunderphonics en noise. Dat heeft Jean D.L. knap omgesmeed tot een filmisch en consistent geheel, dat ondanks de grote variatie. Als het album start lijkt het alsof je tijdens het ochtendgebed in de buurt van het centrale plein in Ístanbul bent, waar het echt altijd druk is. Dat verschuift dan weer naar meer Europese taferelen met kerkklokken en wordt dan langzaam abstracter en meer bevreemdend, maar continu uiterst intrigerend. Alsof je vanuit de wereldcinema in een David Lynch film eindigt. Het is zo omvangrijk en overrompelend wat hier allemaal gebeurt. Daarbij moet je, ook al valt dit eigenlijk met geen pen te beschrijven (vandaar het toestenbord), denken aan een soort hybride van Erdem Helvacıoğlu, Svarte Greiner, David Shea, Orphax, Philippe Petit, People Like Us, Francisco López en vast nog veel meer. Een weergaloos album c.q. luisteravontuur! »