Zoolook (40th Anniversary)

Celebrating 40 years since its release, Jean-Michel Jarre’s genre-defying album ‘Zoolook’ returns in a special newly remastered anniversary edition. First launched in 1984, ‘Zoolook’ fused electronic music with groundbreaking vocal samples from over 25 languages, creating a rich cultural tapestry and one of the earliest albums to use sampling technology so extensively. The newly remastered anniversary edition, available digitally, as a special edition 180g single LP vinyl, and on CD, features a bonus track, ‘Moon Machine’.

Zoolook is groundbreaking in its use of the Fairlight CMI, one of the earliest digital sampling synthesisers, which allowed Jarre to manipulate vocal sounds from 25 different languages. This expansive, multicultural approach created an ‘ethnic’ album, aligning with the influence of Jarre’s former mentor, musique concrète pioneer Pierre Schaeffer, whose techniques encouraged the incorporation of real-world sounds into musical compositions.

With ‘Zoolook’, Jarre created a “phonetic symphony” by assembling vocal samples gathered from across the globe, all without intending to replicate any specific cultural or geographical sound. Instead, the voices became integral parts of Jarre’s unique musical tapestry, handled as naturally as oscillators in a synthesiser. Key tracks like ‘Ethnicolor’ and ‘Diva’ feature contributions from avant-garde vocalist Laurie Anderson, whose imaginary language vocals were recorded at Jarre’s invitation. Some of the vocals were recorded during Jarre’s travels, while others are instead the result of his work with Xavier Bellanger, a French ethnologist who during his travels recorded a large collection of tapes.

Speaking about the 40th Anniversary Edition, Jarre says: “‘Zoolook’ was an exploration of language, human voices, and the connections between culture and technology. I wanted to bring together the diverse sounds of humanity, creating a musical language without words that speaks universally. I’m delighted to revisit this project for its 40th anniversary, honouring both its legacy and the listeners who have embraced it over the years.”