First Word Records in collaboration with Heavenly Sweetness proudly bring you a ‘Beautiful’ new album from the formidably funky French duo, Souleance.

So the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (or perhaps in this case, the ear!). How we define beauty varies from person to person. Be it a meal, a landscape, a picture, a record…

Appreciating and admiring beauty could be considered an art in itself, and one that Souleance have made a rule of life. This ethic is transposed into their own craft, used as fuel to turn beautiful moments into music. This 15-track album seeks to convey this through an assortment of sun-saturated grooves of different shapes and sizes.

While remaining true to their style of creating cut & paste sound collages and incorporating dusty samples, this album seeks to expand upon their own sonic path. Fulgeance lays down masterful work on keys, beats and bass, with Soulist the driving force behind song composition and percussive scratching. Combined, their only guideline is to make music that makes them tick, beyond the constraints of genres, trends or the criteria of “beauty” outside of their own tastes. An amalgamation of hip hop backdrops, analog synths and Moog modulations, merged with the swagger of 70’s jazz-funk and the energy of club dancefloors, while auriverde guitar hooks glide with an effortless glissando of discoid piano riffs.

For this project, the duo are not alone, taking on the definition of beauty to a global base. The microphone turns to Joao Selva for a poetic moment in the streets of Rio, then off to Réunion Island for an accordion jaunt with Kaloune & Papatef, before heading to Istanbul for a touch of Kit Sebastian’s psychedelic funk, and ending the journey for a joyful jig of the soul in Tel Aviv with Jenny Penkin. There’s no pre-defined flight plan here, other than savouring the art of creation itself, and searching for beauty within the dance.

Souleance have been releasing music for almost 15 years, receiving support over the years from renowned selectors worldwide, such as Gilles Peterson, Natasha Diggs, Tom Ravenscroft, Novena Carmel, Bill Brewster, Huey Morgan and Kev Beadle, to name just a few.

This time around, Souleance attempt to explore and define their own natural vision of beauty across this ‘Beautiful’ album.

What could be more subjective than beauty?…

‘Beautiful’ is released on vinyl & digital via Heavenly Sweetness and First Word, October 2023.