Do we have to have left adolescence to sing best about this delicate period? As if the perspective provided by entering adulthood made it possible to formulate these emotional excesses that are still fresh and to strike the iron of frustrations while it is hot. This has been true many times in the history of rock and hip-hop. This is confirmed with the furious, disoriented and instantly catchy electro-pop of Eloi, 25, whose debut album, Last Storm.
“This record evokes a stage of transition, confirms the singer-producer, born Eloïse Leau. Adolescence and post-adolescence were such key moments that I had to find the words and voice of these periods to embody what I experienced and what I am becoming today. » In a café near his small apartment on Place Gambetta (Paris 20e), she warms up with a Viennese chocolate after a sleepless night spent finishing the music video for Volcano, his next single.
As in this introductory title, who sees it “run out of breath”, the songs on the album often unfold to the breathless rhythm of an escape or a flight, materializing through the frenetic sounds of machines and guitars the instability of feelings and the erratic urgency of a quest whose goal we do not know. .
Graffiti and hip-hop dancing
When, around 13-14 years old, the break with childhood occurs, the young girl likes to ride on her skateboard, synonymous with freedom and autonomy. Near Montrouge (Hauts-de-Seine), where she grew up between the two houses of her divorced parents, there is no shortage of playgrounds for board acrobats, with a backdrop of grunge rock and American rap.
Baggy outfit and cap screwed on her brown hair, the teenager, who then says she is in systematic opposition to “the hypocrisy of adult reality”, expresses himself through graffiti and hip-hop dancing. Twice a week, she takes piano lessons with her grandmother, a classical music enthusiast, but also immerses herself in her first parties. In clubs, by falsifying his identity card, then by getting drunk on techno at raves and free parties.
Evenings that intensify when Eloïse enters the Arts Déco in Paris. “We then spent a lot of time in squats, like Carbone’s 17, in Aubervilliers, where artistic performances and parties were organized”, remembers the one who said “having danced a lot and tested [ses] boundaries “. Liberating and challenging experiences. “At some point, these nights and the products that go with them alter the senses, but also the nature of social and romantic relationships. I had gotten lost in something quite chaotic. »
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