Track By Tracks: Xavier Boscher - Shapeshifter (2028)

1. Hypermnestra:

The most avant-garde and ambitious track on the album: a powerful blend of jazz-rock built on chromatic riffs. I was aiming to explore new sonic territory — lightly overdriven electric guitars in the rhythm parts, lead guitars weaving through the chromaticism of those rhythms, metallic vibraphone-like tones, and a fretless bass running throughout, with solos over atmospheric keyboard pads. There are also improvised electric guitar and electric piano solos. I'd call this track "futuristic jazz."

2. Fantasseins:

"Fantasseins" is the most "commercial" track on the album, blending rock/heavy guitars with solos in a style reminiscent of Joe Satriani. It's a fairly progressive piece, with a melodic section at its core and a bossa nova passage on nylon-string guitar. Fretless bass also runs through it, along with lead guitars carrying that creamy, fusion tone I love so much.

3. Love, Light and Unity:

This is the most "Latin jazz" track on the album, built around one of my favorite themes, developed throughout the piece and rounded out with several lead guitar and fretless bass improvisations. It opens with a nicely balanced drum break. I love exploring different territories and blending new colors into my music — here, the colors lean Brazilian in rhythm, tinted with rock and fusion instrumentation.

4. Morphogenesis:

"Morphogenesis" is the longest track on the album, and also the most progressive and the most fusion-driven. I explore modern, futuristic themes here, with a clear influence from contemporary and atonal music. I try to bring in colors reminiscent of Claude Debussy or Olivier Messiaen. There's also an Asian-inspired theme in the second half of the track. I love traveling through my music — starting from a fusion/prog theme or mood and setting off toward unplanned territories.

5. Kaléidoscope:

I composed this instrumental knowing the title in advance, which is rare for me. I wanted repeating, spiraling patterns — a kind of "noodling," but done my way. I love how it turned out: the very "Gilmour"-esque lead guitar lines make this the most "70s progressive rock" track on the album, and the most ambient and ethereal. A beautiful tapestry of guitars, keyboards, and fretless bass.

6. Vagina is a Pink Cathedral:

The most enigmatic track on the album. I wanted to pay tribute to the sacred feminine. I once watched a documentary featuring the inside of a vagina, and I thought it was beautiful. — like the inside of a cathedral made of flesh, all pink and glowing. The urge to turn that into a song took hold. It opens with a theme carried by lead guitars; I wanted it to be very figurative. I'll be releasing a visualizer on YouTube sometime in August that perfectly captures the imagery that inspired this track.

7. La Porte de tes Étoiles:

The most atmospheric track on the album, a very gentle ballad dedicated to my partner. I love the theme and the instrumentation here: the fretless bass brings a delicate groove, the guitar melodies bring light, and I love the improvisations, especially the keyboard one with a tone close to a theremin.

8. Odeon:

The closing track, and the most "futuristic" one alongside the album opener. Straddling jazz fusion and progressive rock, it ends on a very groovy note — a kind of intergalactic funk. The final theme is one of my favorites, full of bright, original harmonies.

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