hanky xx - under a western sky - zrp

When French songwriter James Eleganz met multi-instrumentalist Goulven Hamel, something clicked. Both lifelong lovers of American roots music they built Hanky XX, a duo that blends classic country storytelling with cinematic textures, hip-hop sampling, and French melancholy.

Their debut album, Under A Western Sky (ZRP), feels like a concept record born from the ghost of Ask the Dust: a mysterious woman named Camilla — or maybe Rebekah — wanders through songs that shift between heartbreak, madness, and quiet redemption. Country is the backbone here, but it’s bent and twisted through autotune, vintage samples, and film-like sound design, creating a world as dreamy as it is unsettling.

Recorded between Auvergne and Brittany, Pearls & Furs evokes the spirit of Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt as much as Taylor Swift’s Folklore or David Lynch’s surrealism. It’s a record that treats country not as nostalgia, but as an old friend — one to love, to tease, and to reinvent beneath the same moon that shines on the stormy coasts of Brittany.