Huge Tip! *300 copies limited edition* With Chênes, Roxane Métayer invites us into a world where the boundaries between the natural and the imagined dissolve, and every song becomes a living tableau. Composed over two to three years, the album gathers a suite of narrative pieces—each a vivid snapshot of life among forests, city corners, and mountain paths, but always told through the voices of animals and plants. Here, insects, amphibians, birds, and mammals are not just subjects but protagonists in stories that celebrate the joy and vibrancy of growing life. What sets Chênes apart is its intricate layering of sound and story. Métayer’s violin weaves through the album, joined by bells, bird calls, whistles, flutes, jaw harp, and harmonica—each instrument mimicking the calls and textures of real and imagined species. In one striking piece, language dissolves entirely into pure vocalizations and cries, blurring the line between human and animal utterance.

The album’s visual counterpart comes from Fen, whose collages echo the dreamlike, hybridized nature of these tales. The result is a collection that feels both deeply rooted in the world’s tangible details and entirely unbound by them—a celebration of the everyday magic found in both observation and invention. The title, Chênes (“Oaks”), pays homage to the trees that have been silent witnesses and companions to Métayer’s wanderings—giants both real and symbolic, greeted and embraced along the way.

Métayer’s ever-present and polymorphous violin adds a wandering touch to the pieces, while other instruments shape the environment and setting of these stories. Bells, bird calls, whistles, flutes, jaw harp, harmonica ~ all imitate more or less imaginary species. Each has its role and its life, down to the horsehair of the bow that rubs the strings of the violin to bring forth the sound.