James Eleganz - Hotel Augusta (2022)

What’s left of the Berlin of David Bowie and Iggy Pop? With this question in mind, James Eleganz imagined his second collaboration, with Larry Mullins alias Toby Dammit (Iggy Pop, Swans, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) as artistic director. Together, they created James Eleganz’s new album “Hotel Augusta”. It establishes James Eleganz as an artist to be reckoned with for many years to come.

There was a time when James Eleganz was a member of the famous Success. After this stage, the Breton musician emancipated himself solo soon after with a first album called The Only One in 2019 which earned him critical success. Three years later, he repeated the feat with his successor named Hotel Augusta.

Always at ease with indie folk and alt-country influences, James Eleganz continues to open up to us in the most beautiful way. Dividing between Bertrand Burgalat and Television, he takes us far away from the start with "Kindness In Me" before broadening his horizons with "Precious Love" and "Paper Doll".

Absolutely haunting and exotic, this Hotel Augusta is full of surprises. It is with splendid compositions like "Stay Behind Me" and "Loving You By Mistake" that James Eleganz can exorcise all his torments and old demons. And he does it with undeniable grace, notably on “The C.C. Motel Heights” and on “Holy Grail (A Prayer)” before Mike Watt intervenes on “The Devil’s Wrath”. Nevertheless, Hotel Augusta remains an incredible tour de force on the part of the musician from Dinard who continues to renew himself.