The Klein blue horizon, gliding seagulls, a ferry purring between two languid islands, dotted with ultra-white villages and ancient ruins… These idyllic visions run through Glika, the ultimate musical project of Les Cyclades. An exciting electronic odyssey from West to East, from Belgian effervescence to Greek mysticism. 

In 2020, confined to the neighborhoods of Yser and Mystère in Brussels, Alex and Ludo dream of Greek islands, of scorching sun on their skin, of salty baths, chilled ouzo and braised octopus. But everywhere, time stands still. Must one necessarily move to travel? To levitate? In the absence of Elsewhere, the Franco-Canadian duo will compose the imaginary soundtrack to their escape. 

Glika (which means “sweet” in Greek) perfectly synthesizes the musical influences of Les Cyclades: a cosmic saxophone inherited from Alex’s dub and free jazz past, an architect-pastry chef-botanist from Normandy, and Ludo’s “Balearic” tracks, a musician-performer-wine lover who frequented his first raves in 1995 in Houston, Texas. 

From a hedonistic encounter on a friendly terrace in the 19th arrondissement of Paris to their chosen exile in Brussels, these hypersensitive jacks-of-all-trades first danced and mixed records. Before creating their own phantasmagorical sonic territories, where cinema and poetry meet more or less human voices, brass instruments, synthesizers and analogue drum machines.

A searing fragment of Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos’s “Eternity and a Day” preludes Glika. Then, on Yser Mystère – the names of the two stations on tram 51 that physically linked Alex and Ludo’s psyches during the lockdown – Alex’s astral sax balances out the industrial mechanics of a locomotive, against a backdrop of urban soundscapes. 

And then a rising bpm dominates Alocasia, with its deep and sensual light foot. So sunny. From one track to another, there are interludes influenced by Xenakis, Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre. Seminal heroes of the Cyclades… But soon, the duo unleash hostilities at the helm of Epigone, their meta-techno anthem. “I know”, “You know”, echoes Alex. 

Laughs of friends, “mouth noises,” and “bizarre rhythms” still dominate Parc Fou, while DRAM eyes the minimalist techno of Detroit. So dear to Ludo’s heart… And what about PAME, that post-modern Greek epic. Or Glossa, a timeless track that finishes with a fascinating – because diffracted – elegance, this multi-sensory journey through Les Cyclades. Let’s close our eyes. Silencio! Hay Banda!

By Eléonore Colin, journalist (and friend!!)