Angèle David-Guillou

London-based Angèle is, besides a young Isabella Rosselini-look-a-like, a French-born multi-instrumentalist who just released an extremely beautiful album (Kourouma) that I’ve been playing to death the last few days. She’s the artist formerly known as Klima. She played with Piano Magic, Go! Team and French band Ginger Ale. Kourouma is a neo-classical album, with piano, wurlitzer, strings, bells and the fragile voice (sometimes) of Angèle. Atmospheric is an understatement. There are hints of Yann Tiersen, Satie and Nils Frahm. It’s chamber music, it’s ambient music, it’s very emotional, music for the film in your head. The inspiration for this album comes from novels. From this interview: ‘Typically the title track was inspired by a book by Amadou Kourouma, called “Allah Is Not Obliged”. I read a lot of African literature around the time I was composing the pieces, I love its bareness and aridity, Coetzee is a favourite of mine for instance. I wanted to translate some of that in music. I also started reading in French again, and especially the work of Marguerite Duras and Françoise Sagan. The atmosphere of these books has really inspired me.’
To be honest, I’d never heard of both Piano Magic or Klima and those bands are nothing like this new album. This is goosebumps all over. Because of her looks and her music, I wonder what David Lynch would think of her.
Listen to a preview of the album HERE. See her play live HERE. Listen to Angeles favourite music HERE