Chloe: Paris in the Autumn

Though not as well known as Parisian doyenne of techno, Jennifer Cardini or those Godfathers of filthy electro, Black Strobe, DJ Chloe is by far the most interesting proposition to emerge from the hyper-cool French electro scene recently. Her residency at Paris' Pulp club, at the time when men were only allowed in drag, was an early milestone for Chloe, and her later affiliation with Ivan Smagghe, placed Chloe within a very tight-knit scene from the get go.


She's released on a host of labels outwith the Parisian electro scene though, and whilst Kill The DJ (the label distributing her latest album) is as trusted a mark of quality as a Michelan star, her releases on Gomma, Get Physical and Karat demonstrate that Chloe is no scenester. Though impossibly chic, her forthcoming album, The Waiting Room is intricately constructed and brimming with heady, powerful electro. Whilst Caroline Hervé plays Miss Kitten, using sexuality like a battering ram and flitting between naive schoolgirl and fiery dominatrix in the flick of a black-rimmed eyelid, Chloe relies on the simple emotive power of her music to sell.


Chloe happily admits, "I love the Parisian scene!," but The Waiting Room integrates a broad spectrum of influences that offset the filthy bass and minimal click that made her 12"s so popular in the Pulp Club. The fine balance of emotive, intimate songwriting, sleazy beats and deep minimalism is often reminiscent of Trentemöller's The Last Resort, and the pumping bass on the likes of I Want You could easily be an off-cut from that particular piece of genius. Chloe claims to "love doing personal, introspective work as much as I love doing dancefloor tracks," and there's a number of purely acoustic numbers on The Waiting Room. Whilst Around the Clock and The Door may alienate techno fans with their acoustic guitars and husky vocals, this is an excellent counterpoint to the joyous hedonism of early E.P.'s Take Care or Erosoft, which offered a deliciously stripped-back take on bass-heavy sleaze.


Chloe approached the Waiting Room "wanting to create one universe and have each song contribute to it's feel... I didn't want to make just a compilation of new club tracks." Best suited to headphones, The Waiting Room is a hypnotic trip though this universe, guiding you from the sweaty club to the Sunday comedown, via the late night Parisian streets. Whilst the likes of Luke Slater and Ewan Pearson have an alias for every day of the week, each space in this universe reflects a facet of the whole, and Chloe the introspective acoustic musician is not a new role or persona. In her own words; "I feel that whatever hat I'm wearing, I am the same Chloe... The Waiting Room is the continuity of my work and an important part of my artistic expression. I have many roads to follow." She's keen to express the diverse influences at play on such a well-rounded producer. "I'm influenced by many things," she explains, "but mainly by discovering different types of music. I appreciate electronic music as much as I like music for films or contemporary composers, for example."


The Waiting Room is a bold declaration of a unique identity, and a move away from her role as little sister in the Dysfunctional Family or Kill the DJ, and whilst the KTDJ parties are going as strong as ever, she promises a more experimental solo future, with an emphasis on live work. The promotion of The Waiting Room will mostly consist of DJ sets. However, she has "started doing live performances which reinterpret parts of my album in atypical places since it's an atypical album." The Hacker and Miss Kitten might perform at Roman aqueducts in southern France, but apparently lab-coat geeks are well up on their experimental electro, and Chloe is set to play the Planetarium in Poitiers in the forthcoming months. A unique venue for a unique talent.