|
Vanessa & The
O’s /Feb 2006
Vanessa Contenay-Quinones is French, Paris born and bred. She grew up loving
the sounds of the 60s found rummaging through her dads french record collection. Gainsbourg, Birkin, Francoise
Hardy, Polnaref , Vartin, Dutronc.
Rock&Roll, Elvis, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochrane, Doo-Wop, Be-Bop, Billie
Holliday, Lou Reed and Scott Walker she discovered for herself.
It wasn't much fun being the only 'Ye Ye' girl in a strict convent school
so she raised a few family eyebrows and quit at 15 to start on her life in
music.....but, finding the french music scene of the time dull and uninspiring
and with french A&R’s only seeing a pretty face good for cover
version pop it just wasn’t a good fit so Vanessa took her songs and
beats & groove ideas and upped and moved to London, within a year she
had signed an album deal with the inspirational Jeff Barratt and his ‘believe
in magic’ Heavenly Records releasing her first largely self produced
album 'Manifesto' under the name Espiritu, a melodic latin/hiphop/beats & cut-ups
fusion. Pretty soon she was France's coolest export with four singles denting
the UK top 50 and feeling a lot better! When Jeff set up 'Heavenly/Deconstruction'
she signed there too releasing her second self produced album 'Another Life,'
an experiment in 'underground drum & bass pop' which includes collaborations
with 'A Guy Called Gerald' and Monkey Mafia amongst others, again to critical
acclaim [being the first to add a full orchestra to drum & bass grooves!].
This sound being a little too experimental for wide consumer taste Vanessa
parted company with Deconstruction [soon to be no more sadly] and after a
final sassy flourish of 'electronica' with a big beat remix
of the B52's Love Shack for their greatest hits album she holed up in her
rooftop studio in west London and set about writing a whole new bunch of
songs exploring a more guitar inspired sound leading her to rediscover her
earlier loves Gainsbourg/Hardy/Dutronc and losing herself in early Stones,
Marianne Faithful, Lou Reed, Nico, the Velvets. In 2003 she hooked up with
Lou Reed in a NY studio and recorded a dancefloor pop version of Velvets
classic Sunday Morning, Lou singing some parts in French!
It was around this time that Vanessa got down the new songs she’d
been working on and following the recording with Lou felt the time was right
to collaborate rather than be sole writer/producer for a change so she hooked
up with Swedish artist/composer/producer duo Andreas Mattson [Popsicle] and
Niclas Frisk [Atomic Swing] after she heard their work on Cardigan Nena's solo
album ‘A Camp’ and so VANESSA & THE O'S was born! Described
by Rough Trade UK as “ a cool european sound with breathy vocals over
music that sounds like The Concretes, Stereo lab or a more modern take on the
Velvet Underground…” and by Les Inrockuptibles as an “...epatant
album d’ultra pop, entre Bardot et le Velvet..”
mixing french and english poetry/lyrics with dreamy jangly melodic pop songs
wearing it’s influences boldly on it sleeve, encompassing a knowing
take on the french golden era pop Vanessa loves but with a modern edge. Creating
a fresh, sensual sound the O's spent that year writing and recording on a
mac portable in hotel rooms and apartments in Paris, Stockholm, New York
and London, becoming a magnet for other musicians/artistes like Soundtrack
Of Our Lives and ex Smashing Pumpkin James Iha who liked it so much he joined
the band! The O's released their first limited edition EP 'PLUS RIEN' on
the tiny Dolores Records label in the summer of 2003 going on to finish an
album through 2004/2005 with HIVES producer Pelle Gunnerfeldt the latest
addition to The O's fraternity mixing debut album La Ballade d’O with
the guys in his Stockholm studio. In 2006 Vanessa was invited to guest vocal
on the legendary Scott Walker’s album The Drift, his first release
in 11 years…which brings us to now, July 2006 with the album released
on the bands own label RushmoreRecordings via Vital/Pias in France, Virgin
in Scandinavia in Japan by StrangeDays Records and with rave reviews from
Rough Trade [Album of The Week] Rock & Folk [Album of The Month July ‘06] and
Les Inrockuptibles and Rolling Stone under their belts the O’s roll
on towards late summer gigs in the UK and France.
Rushmore Recordings, London July 2006. |
|