Christine & The Queens is working on a "vast, hopeful and ambitious" new album

Christine & The Queens is currently at work on her third album, which she says is sounding “vast, hopeful and ambitious”.

Héloïse Letissier followed up her acclaimed second album ‘Chris‘ with the recent EP and short film ‘La Vita Nuova‘.

Having exorcised a feeling of “sadness” on the EP, Letissier says she is now looking to something a little more optimistic as she works on a new record while in coronavirus lockdown.

“My original plan was to be in the US right now to promote my EP,” she said, in an interview with NME. “I was going to do some American TV, stick around in LA and do some sessions with musicians. I decided to take this [the lockdown] as a sign to write a lot on my own first instead. It feels a lot like the usual process when I start a new album.

“The mindset is different, because on my third album I’m looking for something very vast and hopeful.”

As for the tone and themes of her next record, Chris revealed: “The new songs are surprisingly hopeful, and I’ve never described myself as that. It’s upsetting because I don’t know how to deal with that! I’ve always said I have a French tormented soul. I have a cool concept for the record, I think. I love a concept.

“It’s sounding really spacious and ambitious. It feels like taking a huge leap forward. It’s also possible that maybe I’m just being really delusional in lockdown. Right now I’m like, ‘This is awesome!’ Maybe later I’ll be like, ‘Ah, this is shit…’.”

She added: “I think of everything like a novelist. Everything has a progression. ‘La Vita Nuova’ is a weird chapter – it’s super poetic and super dense. It allows the transition to the next chapter. It immediately got me thinking about the next record and I immediately want to release another EP, so here it goes…”

As well as revealing her desire to collaborate with the likes of Rosalia, MGMT and Tame Imapala’s Kevin Parker, Chris also told NME about her life in lockdown and plans for the future.

Christine & The Queens has recently been delivering intimate performances from her home while in lockdown, and has also shared covers of ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd, Steve Lacy’s ‘N Side’ and a rendition of Bill Withers’ ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ in tribute to the late icon.