In the midst of existential turmoil, Oliver Gage receives some astonishing news: a beloved elderly aunt, eccentric and crazy about music, has left him a château in the south-west of France. The Englishman had little doubt about what he wanted to do with this gift from heaven, a true 70s dream. The property, renamed Château Rock Bottles, became an artistic residence and recording studio, a timeless refuge for creating music in the freest way possible. It was here, surrounded by paintings and old stones, their instruments and their friends, that Oliver Gage and Romain Turzi gave birth to the Turzi Gage project, the culmination of more than two decades of friendship.

Since their fateful meeting, Frenchman Romain Turzi and Englishman Oliver Gage have been constantly gathering a vibrant community around them. The two musicians first met in front of a Parisian record shop where Oliver worked. The shop had a basement, which the duo quickly transformed into a rehearsal and recording space. The place quickly became the nerve centre of a thriving micro-scene. Although they enjoyed playing covers of their heroes (Modern Lovers, Velvet Underground and Ramones), they each wanted to strike out on their own. Romain Turzi dropped his first name and launched a successful solo project that navigated between electronic music, psychedelia, punk, noise and kraut rock. Knocking on the door of Record Makers with his demo under his arm, he found the ideal home for his music. The label released four albums that established him as the underground pope of unformatted French music. Under the watchful eye of his friend Oliver, he built a rich and free body of work that saw him collaborate with Sébastien Tellier, Brigitte Fontaine and Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream). His power was also evident on stage, both solo and with a band, where he rubbed shoulders with some of his heroes: Aphex Twin, Hawkwind, Spacemen 3 and Sonic Youth. He devoured miles of music, composed incessantly and exchanged visions, snippets of songs and sleepless nights with Oliver. The Englishman, for his part, founded several bands with the same group of friends that left their mark on the Parisian underground music scene, Kill For Total Peace and One Switch To Collision, whose records were released by the Pan European label, co-founded by Romain Turzi and Arthur Peschaud. In the 18th arrondissement of Paris, he opened the Rock Bottles cellar, another gathering place for the city’s diggers.

Although they have seen each other daily for 20 years, Turzi and Gage have yet to formalise a concrete collaboration. While Oliver was going through a period of depression and deep melancholy, Romain suggested he hold on to music. He offered him songs as a light at the end of the dark tunnel of this period.

Over Turzi’s instrumentals, Gage writes the most cathartic lyrics of his career, fighting depression with a grand gesture of life, a quest for light, a celebration of the power of friendship. Settling into Rock Bottles Castle, the duo composes and records an album that is both an intimate and redemptive adventure.

Turzi and Gage spontaneously draw on influences that have been fully digested, benevolent shadows rather than the framework of rigid specifications. We encounter the masters of film music (Goblin, Angelo Badalamenti) as well as the tenors of English electronic music (808 State, Dopplereffekt), the hedonistic spirit of 80s Brit rock (Happy Mondays, Stone Roses), the finely crafted melodies of timeless folk singers (Woody Guthrie, Neil Young) and the sonic power of My Bloody Valentine or Andrew Weatherall’s productions. Turzi Gage also draws inspiration from the freedom and experimental spirit of free-thinking, unrivalled artists such as Don Cherry, Terry Riley and Funkadelic.

This is one of the miracles of Turzi and Gage’s album: it exudes a pure, almost adolescent excitement about the joy of creating together, reconnecting with the primal beauty and punk spirit of music. Romain Turzi composed and produced the 13 tracks, providing the perfect backdrop for Oliver’s voice, which asserts itself with ease, full of swagger and melody. An album to be listened to in one go, narrative and full of surprising arrangements, Drop! wanders between the obsessions of the two musicians, baggy sound and rave for Oliver, cosmic electronic music and noisy rock “n” roll for Romain. The result is a journey full of oblique pop songs and club songs that reconcile punks and dancers. ‘Chevauchée’, the obvious first single with its languid bass lines, resembles a twilight slow dance, while ‘Tripping (The right way)’ writes a retro-futuristic giallo. ‘Holiday’ revives the spirit of the legendary Haçienda, while the aptly named ‘Summer of Love’ resonates with sunny new wave. ‘Maybe’, with its British arrogance and dark disco, restores a little pride to the dancefloors. ‘Peace In Every Garden’, the first track composed by the duo, reminiscent of folk with gothic accents, evokes the creative force behind this album, a real step towards the light to escape a harsh and oppressive reality.

An album of friendship and wild creative freedom, Drop! re-establishes Turzi and Gage as two essential craftsmen of today’s music. Their vision beyond reality is an invitation to escape the gravity of the present and touch a form of ecstasy that is totally necessary.