Èlg et La Chimie
BIO
Since his first bedroom album in 2004, ‘Le prototype de l’Homme Bébé’, Laurent Gérard, aka Èlg (pronounced “Ailgue” or “Hellg”), began writing songs, tales, and ballads in French. He uses these popular formats as laboratories in which he stretches, shrinks, or dissolves the sacred verse-chorus-verse-bridge formula.
His eternal curiosity for pop music—both its best and worst creations, its ability to craft narratives within a brief timeframe, to stretch an earworm for miles, and to serve as a bridge between all socio-cultural classes—has always been a close companion in his musical explorations, from the grotesque to the scholarly. Èlg has always had an obsession, due to the difficulty of the task, with questioning, twisting, bending, and unfolding his native language—sometimes to the point of glossolalia—making French tremble and jump to extract a kind of prose where rhymes exist, not through word endings, but through image associations and textures. In Èlg’s lyrics, recurring themes emerge, such as the demonic double, the vertigo of the mundane linked to the metaphysical, the mental bestiary, and long hallucinatory lists.
After the release of his latest solo album, ‘Dans le salon du Nous’, on the Vlek label in 2021, the desire for a live and collective adaptation of some of its pieces emerged. The group Èlg et La Chimie was born and soon stabilized as a trio with drummer Johann Mazé and bassist/singer Marie Nachury. Èlg regularly brings in new song skeletons, which the group arranges collectively, tests, and reshapes throughout their tours. They expand their imaginary house, adding choirs in the corridors, skylights in the attic, and inflating emotion into a Cinemascope-like scale while maintaining the constraint that the voice and lyrics remain as intelligible as possible—bare and unadorned. After a slow maturation, an album was finally recorded in the studio in 2024 and is set to be released at the end of 2025.
Èlg et La Chimie sing about harmony, probable war, introspection, escapism into dreams, media manipulation, and the loss of empathy through poetic kaleidoscopes and paradoxical image collages—sometimes gentle, even cheesy, sometimes abrupt and martial—offering a narrative akin to a feature film with an unpredictable pulse. A succession of sung, whispered, spoken, and screamed scenes, punctuated by melodic layerings, heart-wrenching ballads fit for stadium concerts, folk nursery rhymes, electronic mantras, and musical comedy finales.
Èlg et La Chimie attempt to draw their own celestial map of pop music. Richard Dawson, Céline Dion, Magma, Philippe Katerine, Pharoah Sanders, Mica Levi, Tom Zé, and Charlene Darling all appear in shadow at some point in this odyssey.
Èlg is also half of the duo Opéra Mort and was one-third of Les Reines d’Angleterre alongside Ghédalia Tazartès and Jo Tanz, as well as part of the trio Orgue Agnès with Sa Terral and Sourdure. He regularly composes for cinema, radio, and theater.
Marie Nachury performs solo under the name Mille. She was part of the duo Brice et sa Pute, l’Arfi, and Le Grand Sbam. She is currently active within the band Fantomas and the vocal ensemble Stimmlippe. She also composes vocal pieces for live performances.
Johann Mazé, who performs solo under the name Jihem rita, has also been seen in France Sauvage, Le Cercle des Mallissimalistes, Lord Rectangle, and Chausse Trappe. He composes for theater as part of Compagnie OLA.
LINE-UP
Èlg: voice, guitar
Marie Nachury: voice, bass, percussion and keyboard
Johann Mazé: percussion, voice, electronics
Coproduction : Le Jardin Moderne, La Bobine, Fabrique POLA
With the support of the CNM
LINKS
PRESS
WIRE (UK)
“When a French artist is truly out to lunch…Well, at least the lunch should be good. And wherever it is that Laurent Gerard, aka Èlg, is eating, the flavours are delirious. The basic recipe is to use the bare bones of the old Serge Gainsbourg and chanson traditions as a launch pad for excursions into psychedelic folk and avant rock. Èlg‘s sense of freak-flag freedom is exhilarating, yet he avoids self-indulgence, and nothing here outstayed its welcome.”
BOSTON HASSLE (US)
“Pop music generally exists on some strange horizons, zones where bodily discomfort and euphoric glee intermingle and interact. Like the outer fringes of early punk and industrial waves, some artists are able to emphasize the strange physicality of their creations. French musician Èlg has joined these fearless ranks. (…) Èlg provides very few reference points – here and there are shades of Throbbing Gristle’s industrial whines and whirrs, while the operatic nonsense vocalizations remind one of Scott Walker’s work in the last few decades.“
CONTACT
Booking : Mélanie Vitry
Press : Marc Chonier
Promo : Amaury Cornut
TAGS
'ECHOS' - Èlg 'micro thérapie' (mic therapy)
Live Sonic Protest (Théâtre Berthelot, Montreuil 21/03/23)
'Hypnose Brève' live Cave12, Genève 2022
'Fontanelles' (vidéo par Monsieur Pimpant, 2021)
'Karl est en dedans' live Magasin 4, Bruxelles 2021
DISCOGRAPHIE
ZWARTE VIJVERS
NEXT Festival Records 20212022
K7, Digital
Dans le salon du Nous
Vlek2021
LP
Les Particules
three:four records2019
LP
Vu du Dôme
Editions Gravats2018
LP
Mauve Zone
Nashazphone2016
LP
Triste Zoo
Lexidisques2014
7
La Chimie
SDZ Records2013
LP
Mil Pluton
Hundebiss Records / Alter2012
LP
Tout Ploie
Kraak2008
LP
Past shows
- DateCountryCityVenuewith
- 05/21/2025SuisseGenève (CH)cave12infos event
- 05/20/2025FranceMetz (57)La ChaouéeJoliette, Fear of Tomorrowinfos event
- 05/18/2025FranceNoisy-le-sec (93)Iveco Nu.eLucy Sissy Miller, Marie Losierinfos event
- 05/17/2025BelgiqueDeux-Acren (BE)Le Cube
- 05/16/2025FranceBruxelles (BE)Les Ateliers ClausCharlène Darlinginfos event
- 11/16/2024FranceMarcillac-Vallon (12)Chez David&Laet
- 11/15/2024FranceDie (26)
- 11/14/2024SuisseBienne (CH)Le Singe infos event
- 11/13/2024FranceClermont-Ferrand (63)Le Lieu dit - Les Rencontres de Suzanne (orga. Suzanne films) event
- 11/12/2024FranceTalence (33)L'Inconnue infos event
- 06/28/2024FranceHérisson (03)Bruit Rose event
- 06/27/2024FranceSaints-en-Puisaye (89)La Maison Composerinfos event
- 11/10/2023FranceThiers (63)Le Métro Gilles Poizat, DJ Soufi Aubrac event
- 11/09/2023FranceSaint Etienne (42)Entre Pots event
- 11/08/2023FranceLyon (69)Le Périscopeinfos event
- 03/23/2023BelgiqueBruxelles (BE)Le BrassMicuicocolainfos event
- 03/22/2023FranceLille (59)L'AéronefBen Lamar Gayinfos event
- 03/21/2023FranceMontreuil (93)Festival Sonic Protest, Théâtre BerthelotLes Harry's, Eugene Chadbourneinfos event
- 11/27/2022FranceBoulogne-Billancourt (92)Festival BBmix, Carré Belle-FeuilleCaroline, Arlt, Fred Frith & Heike Lissinfos event
- 10/14/2022FranceMarseille (13)L'EmbobineuseYes Indeed, Charlie O.S., DJ Zoint Bipinfos event
- 10/13/2022FranceGrenoble (38)La BobineUndae Tropicinfos event
- 09/03/2022BelgiqueEupen (BE)Festival Meakusmainfos event
- 09/02/2022FranceStrasbourg (67)Le Diamant d'OrChien fer, Beatrice
- 09/01/2022AllemagneStuttgart (DE)Neue Schachtelinfos
- 08/27/2022FranceYvré-l'Évêque (72) Les Siestes TeriakiDame Area, Taranta Lanera, Antoine Souchav, Marcel, Roboyinfos event
- 07/07/2022FranceBordeaux (33)La Mêlée, Fabrique POLAinfos event
- 04/17/2022SuisseGenève (CH)Cave12Aulp Umainfos event
- 04/16/2022FranceBillom (63) La PERM (orgas. Le Café du Quai & Black Moon Temple)Batalh, Stuffed Foxesinfos event
- 04/15/2022FranceNantes (44)Festival Variations, le lieu uniqueKate NVinfos event
- 04/14/2022FranceVaulx-en-Velin (69)Grrrnd ZeroNape Neck, Quantum Lipsinfos event
- 04/13/2022SuisseZurich (CH)WalcheturmAnna & Stoffnerinfos event
- 02/04/2022FranceRennes (35)Les Ateliers du Vent (orga. l'Alambik et Carnival of Sound)La Société des timides à la parade des oiseauxinfos event
- 10/31/2021FranceAmiens (80)Accueil Froid infos
- 10/30/2021BelgiqueBruxelles (BE)BeursschouwburgJustine Grilletinfos event
- 10/29/2021FranceMontreuil (93)Les Instants ChavirésPerrine Bourelinfos event
'ECHOS' - Èlg 'micro thérapie' (mic therapy)
Live Sonic Protest (Théâtre Berthelot, Montreuil 21/03/23)
'Hypnose Brève' live Cave12, Genève 2022
'Fontanelles' (vidéo par Monsieur Pimpant, 2021)
'Karl est en dedans' live Magasin 4, Bruxelles 2021
BIO
Since his first bedroom album in 2004, ‘Le prototype de l’Homme Bébé’, Laurent Gérard, aka Èlg (pronounced “Ailgue” or “Hellg”), began writing songs, tales, and ballads in French. He uses these popular formats as laboratories in which he stretches, shrinks, or dissolves the sacred verse-chorus-verse-bridge formula.
His eternal curiosity for pop music—both its best and worst creations, its ability to craft narratives within a brief timeframe, to stretch an earworm for miles, and to serve as a bridge between all socio-cultural classes—has always been a close companion in his musical explorations, from the grotesque to the scholarly. Èlg has always had an obsession, due to the difficulty of the task, with questioning, twisting, bending, and unfolding his native language—sometimes to the point of glossolalia—making French tremble and jump to extract a kind of prose where rhymes exist, not through word endings, but through image associations and textures. In Èlg’s lyrics, recurring themes emerge, such as the demonic double, the vertigo of the mundane linked to the metaphysical, the mental bestiary, and long hallucinatory lists.
After the release of his latest solo album, ‘Dans le salon du Nous’, on the Vlek label in 2021, the desire for a live and collective adaptation of some of its pieces emerged. The group Èlg et La Chimie was born and soon stabilized as a trio with drummer Johann Mazé and bassist/singer Marie Nachury. Èlg regularly brings in new song skeletons, which the group arranges collectively, tests, and reshapes throughout their tours. They expand their imaginary house, adding choirs in the corridors, skylights in the attic, and inflating emotion into a Cinemascope-like scale while maintaining the constraint that the voice and lyrics remain as intelligible as possible—bare and unadorned. After a slow maturation, an album was finally recorded in the studio in 2024 and is set to be released at the end of 2025.
Èlg et La Chimie sing about harmony, probable war, introspection, escapism into dreams, media manipulation, and the loss of empathy through poetic kaleidoscopes and paradoxical image collages—sometimes gentle, even cheesy, sometimes abrupt and martial—offering a narrative akin to a feature film with an unpredictable pulse. A succession of sung, whispered, spoken, and screamed scenes, punctuated by melodic layerings, heart-wrenching ballads fit for stadium concerts, folk nursery rhymes, electronic mantras, and musical comedy finales.
Èlg et La Chimie attempt to draw their own celestial map of pop music. Richard Dawson, Céline Dion, Magma, Philippe Katerine, Pharoah Sanders, Mica Levi, Tom Zé, and Charlene Darling all appear in shadow at some point in this odyssey.
Èlg is also half of the duo Opéra Mort and was one-third of Les Reines d’Angleterre alongside Ghédalia Tazartès and Jo Tanz, as well as part of the trio Orgue Agnès with Sa Terral and Sourdure. He regularly composes for cinema, radio, and theater.
Marie Nachury performs solo under the name Mille. She was part of the duo Brice et sa Pute, l’Arfi, and Le Grand Sbam. She is currently active within the band Fantomas and the vocal ensemble Stimmlippe. She also composes vocal pieces for live performances.
Johann Mazé, who performs solo under the name Jihem rita, has also been seen in France Sauvage, Le Cercle des Mallissimalistes, Lord Rectangle, and Chausse Trappe. He composes for theater as part of Compagnie OLA.
LINE-UP
Èlg: voice, guitar
Marie Nachury: voice, bass, percussion and keyboard
Johann Mazé: percussion, voice, electronics
Coproduction : Le Jardin Moderne, La Bobine, Fabrique POLA
With the support of the CNM
LINKS
PRESS
WIRE (UK)
“When a French artist is truly out to lunch…Well, at least the lunch should be good. And wherever it is that Laurent Gerard, aka Èlg, is eating, the flavours are delirious. The basic recipe is to use the bare bones of the old Serge Gainsbourg and chanson traditions as a launch pad for excursions into psychedelic folk and avant rock. Èlg‘s sense of freak-flag freedom is exhilarating, yet he avoids self-indulgence, and nothing here outstayed its welcome.”
BOSTON HASSLE (US)
“Pop music generally exists on some strange horizons, zones where bodily discomfort and euphoric glee intermingle and interact. Like the outer fringes of early punk and industrial waves, some artists are able to emphasize the strange physicality of their creations. French musician Èlg has joined these fearless ranks. (…) Èlg provides very few reference points – here and there are shades of Throbbing Gristle’s industrial whines and whirrs, while the operatic nonsense vocalizations remind one of Scott Walker’s work in the last few decades.“
DISCOGRAPHIE
ZWARTE VIJVERS
NEXT Festival Records 20212022
K7, Digital
Dans le salon du Nous
Vlek2021
LP
Les Particules
three:four records2019
LP
Vu du Dôme
Editions Gravats2018
LP
Mauve Zone
Nashazphone2016
LP
Triste Zoo
Lexidisques2014
7
La Chimie
SDZ Records2013
LP
Mil Pluton
Hundebiss Records / Alter2012
LP
Tout Ploie
Kraak2008
LP
CONTACT
Booking : Mélanie Vitry
Press : Marc Chonier
Promo : Amaury Cornut