Today, for its 40th anniversary I can reveal that a brand new album, Oxygene 3 will be released on December 2nd 2016.

I don’t necessarily like anniversaries that much…But when I was recording Electronica, two years ago, I did a piece of music (today Oxygene 19) that made me think about what Oxygene could be if I was composing it today. Then I took the 40th anniversary of the first album as a deadline to push myself to see if I could compose this new chapter in six weeks, just like I did for the first one: probably to avoid thinking too much about, whether it was a good idea or not, and also to record everything in one go… The idea was not to copy the first album, but rather keeping the dogma of embarking listeners on a journey from beginning to end with different chapters, all linked to each other.

What made the first Oxygene so different at the time, is probably the minimalist aspect, and the fact that there are almost no drums, and I wanted to keep this approach, creating the groove mainly with the sequences and the structure of the melodies only, through an architecture of sounds.
When I did the first Oxygene in the vinyl days, I had a structure in mind divided in 2 parts, fitting the A&B sides of an album. This time I enjoyed doing the same: one side being darker, the other being brighter. So when I think of it today, Oxygene 3 has actually two sides…

I did the first Oxygene on an 8 track tape recorder with very few instruments, with no other choice than being minimalist. I tried to keep this minimalist approach for Oxygene 3. Some moments are built around one or two elements, like in the first volume.

It was important to me to keep the artwork for Oxygene 3 in line with the two previous albums…40 years ago too, I discovered Michel Granger’s visual universe and immediately felt a total adequacy with the music I was composing. Since then, the cover artwork became famous, like an ecological warning signal, dark and surreal, evoking both outer space and that of our vital living space: this image, for me, has become inseparable from the music.

I wanted the Oxygene 3 visual to remain in that same vein, and hence to re-visit Michel Granger’s original work, simply shifting «photographed-like» from another angle, which was exactly aligned with the approach I had to create this new chapter in music. To this end, I asked Michel Granger’s permission to perform a 3D model of his creation in order to change the angle of the visual, which he amicably accepted.

What an incredible journey Oxygene has been so far. I very much look forward to continuing the Oxygene story with all of you.

See you on the road,

Love
Jean-Michel Jarre

Oxygene 14 : I wanted to start with a hypnotic repetitive beat, with only one or two elements growing constantly until merging into the next part

Oxygene 15 is the most minimalist part based on a constant variation of one sound, the sound of the bass sequence, which is constantly on the edge of either being contained or exploding…

Oxygene 16 is more epic – based on a continuous bass line on which some melodic strings are developing and above all, lots of sound effects are constantly breaking the track until the darker ending maelstrom…

Oxygene 17 is the first bright moment of the album: I wanted to create a groove with the melodic part on its own and to also create the real feel of a spacey trip – which is what Oxygene is all about – and with minimalist drums. What made and makes Oxygene different, is probably that an important part of the sound is made of white noise creating a hazy atmosphere. It is ironic to think back in time when everybody was obsessed by improving the signal to noise ratio, that I used so much noise as part of my music…

Oxygene 18 is composed of 3 elements, evoking the weightlessness and stillness of space…

Oxygene 19 is the track that triggered the entire project – the sound of the melody is close to Oxygene 4. ‘Extreme Wave’ was the working title, as I had in mind a space-surfer, surfing on one gigantic organic wave…

Oxygene 20 : I had the idea in mind to finish this entire 40 minute trip in an unknown vital space, with a track carrying no proper melody, but some harmonic layers, lost in the wind, evolving slowly in a kind of elevation and burning in the dust…