Before Dubai, before the Maldives and the beach clubs, there was Zuydcoote: a small village on the northern French coast, between the dunes and the North Sea, a few minutes from Dunkerque. It is where Charles Stif grew up, and it gives its name to his first album, released on vinyl in October 2026.
A record about a place
Zuydcoote is a personal, stripped-back album: house, afro house, techno and disco, with more intimate moments in between. Each track brings back a presence, a voice or a memory of the coast. Some sounds were recorded on location and woven into the compositions, and each cover comes from a real photograph taken around the village.
Eleven tracks
Side A opens with Grandir and travels through La mer, Tempête, Les marées and Les dunes. Side B continues with S'épanouir, Vivre, Les souvenirs, L'Histoire and Avenir, with a bonus track, Dunkerque. The album features Nolan Marlow, Hanna, Bruno, Fredo ZKD and KaMira.
A collector's object
The vinyl was designed as a piece to keep. Side A carries a compass rose with, at its four points, the villages that border the territory of the album: Zuydcoote to the north, Ghyvelde to the south, Bray-Dunes to the east and Leffrinckoucke to the west. Side B is engraved with a boat, marram grass and the exact coordinates of the village, along with a line that sums up the project: "Je ne suis jamais parti, j'ai juste élargi l'horizon" (I never left, I just widened the horizon).
Part of the proceeds goes to local associations.
