Jean-Michel Jarre enlists Brian Eno to create ‘EPICA EXTENSION’: Listen

Jean-Michel Jarre has challenged Brian Eno to recreate ‘EPICA‘, one of the extracts from his latest album ‘OXYMORE‘.

In October, Jean-Michel Jarre released his highly anticipated album ‘OXYMORE‘. Billed as one of the most technologically ambitious and conceptual works, the French pioneer’s 22nd album was released as a tribute to the late French composer Pierre Henry. As well as being an important figure on the electronic and classical music circuit, he has played a major role in Jarre’s development as a musician. All the tracks from ‘OXYMORE’ offer a distinctive and immersive sound, but the eleventh and final track is particularly appealing for its rhythm. ‘EPICA’ is one of the album’s acclaimed extracts and the one that has been chosen to receive a brand new lease of life by Jean-Michel Jarre himself and fellow electronic music pioneer Brian Eno. About this rework, Jarre explains:

‘When I started EPICA, I immediately thought that Brian Eno could be involved in this most rhythmic track of the album, thinking that he could bring his signature ‘ambient’ touch in reworking the track – another kind of Oxymoron, …but he told me that he was most interested in developing rhythmic ideas these days…and here is the beautiful, ghostly, unexpected result.  Thank you, Brian.”

The sounds of the original version of ‘EPICA’ are there but clothed in a different aura. Now some more muffled, others more crystalline, it is genuinely a new interpretation of the narrative that Jarre had offered in the original version. The drumming is interesting and hypnotic, representing the rhythmic addition that Brian Eno was longing for. The breakbeat makes it more urban, enhancing its creativity. It’s a boost to the energy that ‘EPICA’ had already guaranteed.

It’s a brilliant rework available on the usual platforms via SONY Music. ‘EPICA EXTENSION’ is also accompanied by a fantastic visualizer which you can watch now below:

Image Credit: François Rousseau / Provided by Falcon Publicity