Olivier Casassus, a Marseille-based French composer with classical roots and extensive film scoring credits, has released Jour Bleu, his first solo piano EP. He works with clear, controlled intensity, pulling Mediterranean atmosphere into neoclassical forms where emotion emerges through resonance rather than volume. The same sensitivity he brings to screens shapes these standalone pieces, built on prepared piano to heighten texture and space.
Across six tracks, the EP sketches quiet meridians: ‘Partisan’ explores separation and return, written while living 9,000 km from his then-future wife Clara through evolving, delicate harmonies; ‘Octobre’ bottles autumn’s bittersweet pull, echoing the Brazilian idea of saudade in tender lines; and ‘Voyage’, the earlier single also for Clara, meditates on couplehood with nostalgic drift and soft melancholy.
Jour Bleu works as an allegory for luminous days and anchoring relationships, steeped in coastal blues where surface clarity meets deeper pull.
In a neoclassical field that sometimes drifts into sameness, Olivier Casassus delivers something grounded and specific prepared piano recordings that carry personal weight, invite real contemplation, and use silence as structure. Jour Bleu feels like a necessary reset, reminding listeners how powerful restraint and honest resonance can still be.
Stream Jour Bleu:
