*2026 repress* On the spot piano improvs, experimental jazz and ambient coalesce on lo-fi, self-liberating debut. “Après coup, to me, signifies that moment of conscience in the aftermath, fundamentally an experience of time, the relationship between the before and after.” – Laurie Torres

Centering around piano, drums and synthesizer with interweaving field recordings, 'Après coup’ is a sprawling 11-track album. Translating directly from French - afterwards, after the event - its title subliminally points at something deeper between the lines. Recorded in 2023 between tours in a small window of time where ‘normal’ life hadn't quite recommenced, Torres meticulously crafted her debut solo material in view of surrounding nature, all providing the perfect nourishment for long streams of improvisation. Built right up to the edge of a lake, Studio Wild in St-Zénon, Québec offered an unparalleled location and set up for her freeform creativity.

Instrumental music seemed like a natural response and evolution for Torres who had long basked in the world of “pop music” as she elaborates: “I had an urge to use creativity as a sort of resting place, a place where things can unfold slowly and take time to reveal themselves. In other worlds words, I felt the need to make something slower, more elusive”

With her ‘pop’ past workings never far away, Laurie artfully drifts between uplifting and melancholic hues, never overbearing or undermining one another. She plants seeds throughout and only in consuming the album in its entirety do we make sense of its seriality, as new meanings unfold where repetition and subtleties produce increasingly complex meanings. The immediacy of Torres’ recorded takes doubled with minimal overdubs create a fiercely direct, intimate and unpolished lo-fi beauty. ‘Après coup’ then is self-reflective, open and inclusive with Torres allowing herself to be fully seen. An album to be felt at close distance with unrivalled authenticity. This album stands as a testament to Laurie’s artistic evolution and serves as a beacon, inspiring her to continue nurturing her own creative pursuits and finding exhilarating freedom.