_News Archives - Juste une Trace

SUCH A NICE PLACE, that is its name, the sixth album by JAY & THE COOKS produced by Juste Une Trace. Recorded in spring 2025 using analogue takes at Studio 180 in the presence of students from the Institut des Métiers de la Musique (IMM), the album features around ten original, unreleased tracks plus a new version of “I’M HUNGRY!” The repertoire is therefore composed of works by Jay Ryan, offering a mix of slightly “destroy” Rock vibes, “bizarre” Americana, “off-kilter” Country, and quite a bit of “old school” Punk (yes, really). He sings short stories inspired by daily life. His lyrics are becoming more and more direct. And as for the riffs… you’d better hold on tight (thanks to Arnaud Bascuñana and Stéphane Missri). Jay Ryan offers his perspective on society as an American who has lived in France for decades, who reads The New York Times and Le Monde, who devours books, takes good photos, loves art exhibitions, and cooks excellent small dishes. Everything is authentic and surprising. Everything becomes timeless and so true.

Jay Ryan – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Stephane Missri – electric guitar
Arnaud Bascuñana – electric guitar
Marten Ingle – bass
Marty Vickers – drums, percussion

Produced by Paul Bessone for Juste Une Trace
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Arnaud Bascuñana at Studio 180
All lyrics and music by Jay Ryan, except for “Booze Mama” (lyrics by Jay Ryan and music by Didier Marty) and “Senators have kids” (lyrics by Jay Ryan and music by Stéphane Missri)
Published by Éditions Amoc

Harmonic Permanent Drive is an indus-tinged noise rock project by 4 experienced artists from the independent scene. Waiting [for Joy], their debut album, is a superbly crafted and subtle sonic material that puts the pressure on and generates constant tension.

The album plunges listeners into an intense exploration of sound, with each track evoking a dark and disturbed universe.
From Graveyard onwards, the band transforms the cemetery into a place of inner chaos, where saturated synths create a devastating storm before giving way to devastating tension. This climate of violence and loss of bearings continues on The Fuckin’ Way, a brawling track where the heart-rending choices, like sharp stones, shatter the soul. The noise-ridden refrains mark the inner struggle between desire and disillusionment.

This tortuous path leads to Waiting [for Joy], a track that illustrates, according to Syn-Anton, ‘the vain expectation of an impossible joy’. Bells, like doom-laden sentinels, hammer out the death knell in the background through the bass/guitar combo’. The heavy atmosphere of Waiting [for Joy] continues on Our Living Place, where the fusion of electro textures and Floydian refrains reinforces the impression of a world in decline, a place where lost voices whisper in an omnipresent malaise.

The quest for meaning becomes even more introspective on Monkey in My Brain, where madness gradually sets in, and The World Has Stopped, which depicts an unrecognisable, suffocating world, backed by an Alice Cooper-style guitar. The urgency of the inner explosion is heard in Is There Something to Kill, where the question of liberation is raised like a desperate cry. On My Hand evokes a silent pain where every tear symbolises deep despair. With Holy Glory, this introspection becomes an oppressive wandering, amplified by growing musical tension. Finally, Stuck in a Life concludes the album with a sense of total alienation, frozen in heady dissonant rhythms.

Éric Martin – guitar, lead vocal / project manager
Syn-Anton – machines, vocals / industrial engineering
Aurélien Esquivet – bass / operations research
Étienne Gaillochet – drums, vocals / quality control

Produced by Fuzz-Wire
Recorded at Le ventre de la baleine
Mixed and mastered by Fred Nout
Photographs by MarieXXme
Design nd artwork by Aurélien Esquivet
Released by Juste Une Trace
Release date : 25-04-2025

More about HARMONIC PERMANENT DRIVE

WAITING FOR JOY (CD) here