Originally she wanted to be a barrister, but ended up on the dancefloor instead. Chloé Thévenin, or just CHLOÉ as she likes to call herself, has been DJing for over 25 years, starting in Paris in the 1990s. She’d hang out in record stores, buy CDs and play niche sounds for niche parties. In 2002, CHLOÉ released her first EP, full of innocent minimal techno, sometimes with guitars. One of the tracks was called »I Hate Dancing«, and even then she sang the vocals herself.
Since then she’s released several records and played in all the big clubs with all the big names. She doesn’t do it too often, but Berghain keeps calling her back. She also has a residency at Rex, the most famous techno club in Paris. Her Lumière Noire parties are both a club night and a platform for her albums, which sound more like a concert hall than a club night.
But you better not kill the groove
CHLOÉ has seen it all in the club scene. Her previous label, Kill The DJ, was metaphorical murder on the dance floor. Ellen Allien once asked her for some tracks, and Solomun got hold of her number later as well. Her remixes for Metronomy and Lauer may not have been earth-shattering. Having them lying around somewhere on the web is still nice, because every single one shows that even in her fifties CHLOÉ hasn’t lost her knack for conjuring up mid-summer night vibes on the terrace.
These days, CHLOÉ says the kind of things people say as they get older. She talks about the importance of a good book, good coffee, maybe a bit of exercise and plenty of fresh air. She’s not interested in the rat race any more. Maybe it’s why she picks up real instruments more often. Maybe it’s why her soundtracks for French films are so striking, like those of her role model/not-role model Denis Villeneuve. But before we start philosophising about »Blade Runner«, let’s get to the mix that CHLOÉ has recorded exclusively for us.
