Pianist and composer Christophe Imbs, a major figure on the Strasbourg artistic scene, having released in 2023 his third album as a leader with Soft Power – an exciting quartet, particularly representative of the internal tensions that animate his universe in the way it blends the energy of rock with the lyricism of jazz improvisation – here presents himself as a soloist, plunging into the most intimate aspects of his poetics. Bringing into play a whole system of effects pedals to engage the acoustic clarity of his piano in voluntarily modernist variations and metamorphoses of sound, Christophe Imbs resolutely adheres to a lyrical tradition of the solo, but to better disrupt its codes through the expression of a sensitivity that is definitely contemporary.

In just a few years, the La Strizza 'power trio', founded by drummer Francesco Rees, along with bassist Phillip Klawitter and guitarist Kalevi Uibo, has established itself as one of the most emblematic bands in the highly active Collectif Oh!, an association of Strasbourg's finest musicians. Adepts of a hybrid, hyper-contemporary music synthesising contributions from the 90s New York Downtown Scene, ambient and experimental post-rock, the trio's new creation Gandy Dancers is a tribute to the first American rail workers. In the shadow of the great composer Steve Reich's masterpiece Different Trains, La Strizza will place at the centre of each piece a series of samples reflecting the sonic ambience of different European railway stations, to create musical tableaux of skilfully evolving textures and forms, with a strong dreamlike quality.