colleen

2022 has felt on the whole so incredibly rewarding (quick reality check: of course I’m not mentioning the more personal things that weren’t so great or that were downright sad or scary – the eternal debate of how far we should share is one I haven’t settled with myself yet, but I am aware this sort of end-of-year posts can give a very skewed image of reality and I want to acknowledge that). I celebrated 20 years of activity as Colleen through a lot of writing (even by my standards ), went back to playing live after formerly deciding to quit with two special double album shows in Barcelona and London in March, and most importantly, finished my 8th album Le jour et la nuit du réel (out October 2023 @thrilljockey ).

Taking some time off since completing the album in October has allowed me to finally make the decision that I will try to do a proper tour (US + Europe). Please note my phrasing “try to”: Covid, climate change and inflation have impacted touring negatively, and I cannot put my health at risk through crazy schedules (I will be 47 next year, not 27). My goal for the coming months is to build up physical and mental strength to gracefully face everything that touring entails: the admin (especially the US visa process), rehearsing and travelling.

I want to end this year by thanking each and everyone one of you: your support is an *immense* encouragement and source of well-being for me both as a person and as a musician. And since people still ask me on a regular basis “why Colleen?”, I thought I’d leave you with the answer: when I studied English, I spent countless hours studying my bilingual  Robert & Collins dictionary. One day at the top of a page I saw this word: “colleen”, which means “young girl” in Irish. I was struck not just by its beauty, but also by the fact that like the music I had started to make, it contained repetitions, curves and loops. It also happens to sound very close to the French word for “hill”, “colline”, which is also strikingly beautiful, and perhaps my favorite type of landscape. So it really should be “colleen”… and I hope there will be 20 more years of this!

See you in 2023 with the new album on record and live!

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