Songwriting UK — Winter 2017

(Axel Boer) #1

HALO MAUDHALO MAUD


Having been introduced in 2015


by La Souterraine, a collective who


promote up-and-coming French


talent, we’re finally catching up


with those who think that singer-


songwriter / multi-instrumentalist


Halo Maud is the real deal.


“Julien Gasc, who released two


records under his name and also


plays in this amazing band called


Aquaserge, sent my first songs


to La Souterraine, “ she explains.


“At that time I was not planning


to release anything, I guess I was


waiting for a sign from heavens. It


happened and I finally realized I


just wanted to record more songs


and play shows.”


Growing up among the forests


and boulders of the Auvergne
region of France has clearly had
a huge influence on her creative
process. “I grew up in a region of
mountains where there is lots of
forest, heather and some lichen on
the rocks,” says Maud. “It gave me
the sense of observation, a taste
for contemplation. I think I am
looking for similar things in music
and in a landscape: relief, nuances,
several levels of spaciality.”
If you listen closely you can
hear it in her transfixing soft
psychedelia, such as recent single
Baptism which is reminiscent of
the starry-eyed work of Emiliana
Torrini. “I rarely know where I
am going when I start composing a
new song,” she says. “Sometimes I
just keep in mind a vague direction
or idea like ‘the bridge will lead
to another space, brighter, with

a glimpse of hope.’ Then I start
singing over the first chords and
the voice decides where it is going
t o g o .”
With a debut album due out in
the spring and a tour supporting
Baxter Dury in February and
March, 2018 could be the year that
she goes global.

INTRODUCING...


“I rarely know where I
am going when I start
composing a new song”
Name: Halo Maud
Age: 32
Location: Paris
Style: Hazy psychedelic pop
Look out for: Single Baptism
Web: halo.maud.bandcamp.com

A French singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has already made a splash in her home country


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Duncan Haskell
Free download pdf