With his new album entitled Warm Up, Étienne de Crécy is taking bold steps. The man known for moving people on the dance floor at night has crafted an album meant to be enjoyed at home during the day: the tracks are more chill than clubby, more organic than electronic, warmer, less metallic. Has he gone mad? Rather, it’s the world—still in the throes of Covid, a time ill-suited to resonating beats—that has led him to create an album for home listening. A shift in tempo. Another hallmark of this project are the guests. For each track, he invited an artist, often from a genre far removed from his own, and asked them to freely write a song based on the instrumental he provided—his only guiding principle. He thus stepped out of his comfort zone, away from the club and a cube that’s carried him high, from a dance floor fired up by his sets, from an album where he would have total control, into a soundscape with deliberately blurred boundaries and extra unpredictability. The lineup he brought together includes an array of surprising personalities, with musical influences spanning from indie-pop to rap. The DJ of heady, dizzying nights reinvents himself as a generous, curious host, sharing his infectious joy. Including contributions from Damon Albarn, Alexis Taylor, Peter Von Poehl, Frank Leone, Sports, Master Peace, Olivia Merilahti, Sugar Pit, Kero Kero Bonito and Caroline Rose.
