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************************************************************************French band A Singer Must Die first started producing their surprising and distinctive sound in 2005. The singer, Manuel Ferrer, feels a deep founded obsession not only with The Beatles, Syd Barrett and Nick Drake, The Smiths and Elliott Smith but also with the early sounds of the dark wave and its electro-shock agitation. These may seem unexpected musical contrasts but they can be explained by his personal experience. It was Manuel's lyrical style in complete contrast to the French scene of the time which brought him and composer Philippe Le Guern together.
The pair's approach to songwriting meant they didn't fall into reproducing the predictable clichés of the Made in France music scene or the formatted side of some Brit Pop bands. In the summer of 2006 they decided to take a break and look for new inspiration. They travelled to Newcastle and found a city full of contrasts which echoed their musical influences. Tough, troubled and eccentric in parts maybe but also a city with a great sense of belonging, proud of its differences and where you quickly feel good.
Manuel and Philippe then discovered that they not only came from the same working class neighbourhood but that they'd also lived in the same street.
In many ways, Newcastle is a bit like the street the two musicians grew up in with Ian Curtis who would sing a neo-folk psychedelic stuff at one end, Lennon playing in a new-wave combo at the other and Elliott Smith sounding like a young Bowie somewhere in the middle. Yet it's in the covers of Depeche Mode and Simon & Garfunkel in Johnny Cash's last albums that A Singer Must Die really found its mark to produce a totally different inspirational sound, haunting, fragile, brutal and yet familiar.
Enriched with a cello to accentuate the tragic and obsessional side of their music in live shows, they are heard by the French tour promoter Radical Production and are asked to support American songwriter Benjy Ferree at la Maroquinerie in Paris, in April 2007.
14th May 2007 : official release of their co-signed debut album 'Today, It's a Wonderful Day', on Edinburgh based label Grand Harmonium. The album was mastered by Calum Malcolm [Prefab Sprout, The Blue Nile,…].
The band then played some UK gigs in June 2007. These first dates are supervised by Chris Carr, an agent who notably worked and toured with Depeche Mode, The Cure and Nick Cave. On this trip, they recorded live acoustic sessions for BBC Radio Bristol [Bristol Uncovered] and Resonance FM [Johny Brown's Mining for Gold].
In autumn 2007 the band played some more UK dates. They were joined by guitarist Michaël Ross, born of the dynamic scene of Newcastle, and a rhythm section [Philippe Gohard on drums and Denis Marçais on bass].
Philippe Le Guern's departure, in late 2007, now re-focuses ASMD to what it has been since the beginning: dream-pop in constant mutation.
Firmly set upon exploring new horizons, Manuel Ferrer has chosen to work with the 18 year old Tomasz Jankowski : born and brought up in a Poland which dreams about indie-rock and projects its own fantasies and upheavals onto progressive-rock, Tomasz stands out as the ideal multi-instrumentalist [guitars/keyboards] to bring ASMD towards new and unexpected landscapes.
The atmospheres of the new songs are tinged with chords of a certain abruptness, a great harshness and the depths of a held-back gloom, accompanied by often jerky melodies. All this gives Tomasz's music an astonishing worldly-wise air as if he has already felt all the main inner upheavals that life has to offer.
Tomasz is influenced by the noisy roar of guitars in Sonic Youth and the destitute folk of Jeff Buckley, by the tensions created by Godspeed You! Black Emperor, My Bloody Valentine and Joy Division. [Incidentally, few people will have heard his acoustic cover of 'Love will tear us apart', performed with such honesty and intensity. Tomasz also has a very good voice].
His skills in experimental sounds, like those of Brian Eno, sometime push him to inject arrangements close to electro effects. An insatiable explorer of the most influential bands of past times and bands of today, his young age gives his musical approach a kind of out-of-time dimension.
Without ever leaving a great sense of melody, his music is at the edge of a neo-dark-psychedelism and makes the duo move to a new ground.
ASMD are from now gladly accompanied for the upcoming live shows and as new members on the next recordings with the female Franco-American French horn player Gabrielle George, and Guillaume Dubois on bass.
_________________________Artwork by Alix Allain
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FRANCE
Pulsomatic, Le Mouv', Magic*****°, ResMusica [long entretien avec le groupe sur le Guide de Musique Classique], Pop News, Gonzaï Magazine,.
[read more]
U.S.Triumphs & Tragedies [December '09 - Bakersfield, California] : 'Lovely new song. [.] ASMD is a unique french band that is influenced by everything from Nick Cave, The Jesus and Mary Chain, to the bright lights of Sin City. While interviewing members Manuel Ferrer and Tomasz Jankowski, I learned that they are two intelligent frenchmen with a healthy perspective on what it means to have musical success in modern times.'
Copy and paste the link : http://triumphsandtragedies.blogspot.com/2009/12/singer-must-die-new-song.html
The Big Takeover Magazine, Lip Publishing, CD Reviews, UIC Radio Chicago, WRIR Radio. [read more]
U.K.
BBC Ulster : 'I've been excited about playing [God Elvis], absolutely brilliant song.' [After Midnight with Stephen MacCauley]
BBC Bristol : 'Very excellent band, great session! This is a really good album I would highly recommend, the whole ambiance is this fantastic classic singer/songwriter, and very french, but the same song has lots of different influences : I actually write down Johnny Cash, The Dears, Arcade Fire, Divine Comedy and Pulp. It's a very nice piece of work.' Richard Pitt & Gary Smith, Bristol Uncovered
musicOMH, BRfm [recommended by Chris Phillips], Tasty Fanzine, Radio Basingstoke.[read more]
ITALY
Sound36, Erba della Strega, Ondarock,. [read more]
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The Armless Sailor*A Singer Must Die*A video by. par suttieslea
"God Elvis" A Singer Must Dieenvoyé par lapinroseprod
