Julien Tassin, Erwin Vann and Jean-Marc Butty Detail Collaborative Album ‘Inner Forest’

Belgian and French instrumentalists Julien Tassin, Erwin Vann and Jean-Marc Butty have aligned around a single record. The collaborative album ‘Inner Forest’ arrives 27 November, with first single ‘Northern Light’ available now.

Produced by John Parish, known for his long-running work with PJ Harvey and Eels, the project places its three players within analogue textures and organic minimalism. The music sits between jazz, ambient and contemporary classical, in a quieter orbit shared with GoGo Penguin, Portico Quartet and Mark Hollis.

‘Northern Light’ opens the album as a meditative, ethereal piece built on delicate instrumental interplay. Tassin describes it as “a lasting memory of a profound, contemplative connection with nature” and a track that establishes the record’s meditative atmosphere. His prepared-guitar approach draws on blues, jazz, classical, Eastern and African influences; Vann’s saxophone work channels a mindfulness practice; and Butty, whose CV includes decades with PJ Harvey and The Raincoats, brings a rhythmic sensibility informed by sound bath therapy.

A run of Belgian dates extends into early 2027, with release concerts in Ghent and Sint-Pieters-Leeuw this December. ‘Northern Light’ is out now ahead of the full album.