The clinic was held for a whole month in 2024, in a former Lausanne pharmacy converted into a recording studio. Seated behind a bank of instruments made from odds and ends, including suitcases, Swiss musician Louis Jucker offered visitors a “consultation”: a conversation with people aged eight to 88, as he puts it, about life’s problems, ending with a pop song recorded on vinyl. Every patient left with their own record under their arm. Another copy of the record was then added to the library of the jukebox, which was eventually put on display in two galleries, in Nyon and Bienne. Visitors to these exhibitions could listen to the songs, synchronised with a black and white VHS video of Jucker singing. This was the zany, hand-crafted and touching project A Pharmacy of Songs, published in November 2025.
Pieces of music as cures
DIY and a taste for experimentation: this project behind a shop window contains some of the favourite things of the musician from La Chaux-de-Fonds (Neuchâtel). The soul consultation campaign, which took place first in Lausanne and then in Fribourg, produced 50 pieces of music and “pharmaceutical package leaflets” from the 50 consultations. You can listen to (and buy) the songs on the author’s website. The experiment also led to the publication of a 200-page book. The book contains all the “leaflets” written in the pharmacies and describes the “cures” proposed, all listed by the illness addressed, the parts of the body concerned and the recommended dose. This musical and literary work also features the lyrics to the songs. On the other hand, the pieces of music have not been published on streaming sites such as Spotify. “I didn’t want them showing up by chance just because the algorithm decided to select them. That’s not what this project is all about,” explains the multitalented creator, who likes everything to be “hand-made”.
“Your body is a miracle, your soul is a gift, and your story is not yet written. No shame, no blame, no pain: you deserve the best.”
Excerpt from the song “Undaunted”
A “consultation” where you pay what you want
On the musician’s website, visitors are asked to choose a piece at random by picking a letter and a number. We ended up with “Undaunted” (A2). What was the problem a patient described? A toxic relationship, which according to him manifested itself in his lungs. Here are the lyrics of the cure proposed by the musician: “Your body is a miracle, your soul is a gift, and your story is not yet written. No shame, no blame, no pain: you deserve the best.” The title comes from an actual conversation. It is a good song, but results are not guaranteed. “Sometimes I’d spend an hour listening to the person and up to six hours composing, recording, mixing and pressing the record,” the artist says. Consultations were held during the week, at specific times. Every patient got their own chart, which was completed by machine then stamped for validation. When patients came to pick up their medication, armed with their musical prescription, they were asked to pay what they saw fit for the consultation.
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