Zoolook (40th Anniversary - new mastering)

Electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre has announced that he will release a newly remastered version of his 1984 album Zoolook on vinyl through Sony Music on January 10. It will be preceded by a digital version of the album on November 8.

Greatly influenced by Jarre's former mentor Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrète approach, something he also utilised on 2022's Oxymore album, Zoolook saw Jarre recording samples of singing and speech in 25 different languages which were then put through a Fairlight synthesizer, an early example of sampling in music.

The album also featured contributions from avant-garde vocalist Laurie Anderson, whose imaginary language vocals were recorded at Jarre’s invitation. Other vocal contributions were the result of Jarre's work with French ethnologist Xavier Bellanger, who during his travels recorded a large collection of tapes.

"Zoolook was an exploration of language, human voices, and the connections between culture and technology," says Jarre today of the album. "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.”

The newly remastered anniversary edition, available digitally and as a limited-edition 180g single LP vinyl, features a bonus track, Moon Machine.