Episode 73 : A Gift, an Empty House and a Necessary Song

This Friday, I received a gift. A real one.

A parcel arrived from Germany, from Rosdorf, to be precise, sent by Éléonore Palmegratz aka Aliènor. Its a wonderful pack, a CD inside. But before even discovering its musical contents, the parcel itself, the thought behind it and the simple beauty of the gesture genuinely moved me. And the timing could hardly be better, because today, in Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda, I’m playing one of Éléonore’s songs.

Sometimes, these small synchronicities make a radio show feel more alive. You receive something from an artist, you play their music, and suddenly it is no longer simply another track in a playlist.

It is someone.

It is a connection.

A small thread crossing borders, travelling from Rosdorf to Brussels, and finding its way into this salon.

Today’s episode also includes something deeply personal.

For the first time, I’m going to play Maison Vide, my brand-new Mitxoda song. A quiet world premiere, here and now, inside the show. I’m not going to release it everywhere on social media just yet. I want to let it exist differently for a little while. To give it some space before surrounding it with announcements, posts and algorithms.

Maison Vide is a song I could not release before now. It is about my mother’s house, which we finally emptied after four years. Four years of boxes, furniture, objects and memories. Four years of trying to decide what could be kept, what had to disappear and what would remain with us regardless.

I think I needed to wait until the house had actually been emptied. Not only physically, but also until something had begun to clear inside my own head.

Now the house is empty.

It still has to be sold, of course. Another chapter remains. But an enormous step is finally behind us, and this song can come out of the ground at last. I warn you. It is not a happy song.

It is not an easy song. But it is a necessary one, for me, at least.

Read more about that song here.

And around that fragile premiere, today’s show is once again filled with remarkable independent music. One of the tracks that stayed with me most is School, by The Ineffectuals.

Fourteen minutes and ten seconds of pure joy. It may not be progressive rock in the most traditional sense, but it is beautifully written. It takes its time. It breathes. It grows. It allows something to emerge instead of chasing the next chorus or trying to win you over in the first fifteen seconds.

And honestly, when a fourteen-minute track makes you want to stay until the very end, something important is happening.

So today, we have gifts, empty houses, immense songs and a discreet world premiere. We have music travelling between people and across borders. And we still have that same, stubborn desire to keep these songs moving, from an artist to a listener, from one room to another, from one life into someone else’s.

Welcome to episode 73 of Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda.

Love on you.