“There is a purity and beauty to this music that shines a light” – UNCUT
London based duo, La Nouvelle Musique, mix psyche folk elements with an ethereal vocal style that falls somewhere between Vashti Bunyan, Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) and Nico. I am pleased to say, we have the opportunity to hear them both live with a couple of London shows and they are also releasing their debut album.
Made up of husband-and-wife Joanna Beck and Ian de Silva (formerly of the band Silver), the baroque orchestration on some of La Nouvelle Musique’s songs also reflects a big screen aesthetic. Singer/Bass Player – Joanna is also a composer and performance artist who creates electro acoustic music, sonic art, and has scored for theatre and film.
Their forthcoming self-titled debut album, which follows their recent acclaimed ‘Premonitions’ EP, is a sumptuous and haunting collection of deeply effecting tracks that drips with nostalgic mysticism. Strings weave around delicate acoustic picking and soft piano in opener and the first single from the album ‘The Mirror’ as Joanna’s glacial vocals hypnotise the listener into a trance.
“The overall theme of the album is literally the movement of time and how ten minutes can seem like an hour or just a matter of seconds”, explains Joanna. “It also touches on how life experiences are subjective and unique to everyone. Many of the songs were written after watching the Jim Jarmusch film ‘Down By Law’, with melodies we imagined could work well over the closing credits to that movie.”
Production wise La Nouvelle Musique work as a self-contained unit, writing, recording and producing their music at Berwick Street Studios in Soho London, where Ultravox recorded ‘Vienna’ and The Sex Pistols made their version of ‘My Way’. The album will be released on vinyl on 30th June via the renowned psychedelic indie label Fruits de Mer Records, known for their releases by The Chemistry Set, Damo Suzuki, Sendelica, and many more, with a digital release to follow on 1st August.
Woven around those dates, you can catch a couple of live shows that La Nouvelle Musique are giving at The Bedford, London this Tuesday and Green Note London in a fortnights time. For further information, please check out https://www.instagram.com/la_nouvelle_musique/
