Slimane: Solune

January 25 sees the release of the second album by Slimane, a follow up to his 2016 debut  À bout de rêves.

Slimane Nebchi was the winner of season five of The Voice: La plus belle voix in 2016. Of the four judges who wanted him after the blind auditions where he performed Vitaa's À fleur de toi, he chose to work with Florent Pagny.

He won the popular vote in the final after performing songs by Francis Cabrel, Christophe Mae and a duet with Florent Pagny.

His debut album was a number one in France and Belgium, the single Paname reaching the top ten.

While there are plenty of questions about whether or not reality TV shows are a valid platform for emerging artists, it does seem to me that these shows in France have produced some quality acts. True, many of these might have made a commercial breakthrough by other means, but we no longer live in a situation where music companies can readily invest in artists over a matter of years. A TV show can raise the profile of an artist in ways that many years of expensive promotion cannot.

Slimane has tour dates around France from March, and he plays the Zenith in Paris on April 7.

Girls in Hawaii: Indifference - Bruxelles Ma Belle session

A tasteful new session by Girls in Hawaii shot at Brussels Central Station for Bruxelles Ma Belle.

The city's central station isn't normally the most scenic part of Brussels, even though it sees its fair share of tourists.

But a well shot video blog, a great band with a  great song can make all the difference.

Girls in Hawaii have been around since 2003, building up a serious reputation in Belgium and France, with several albums in the top ten in Belgium and 2008's Plan Your Esape making the top 40 in France.

Girls in Hawaii released their Nocturne album last year, and have a schedule of dates around France  from now until their appearances at festivals over the summer.

Halo Maud: Du Pouvoir/Power

Halo Maud's UK debut EP Du Pouvoir/Power features a version of the title track partially re-written in English. It's a powerful track and it works in whatever language you speak.

The EP with its new version of the song is released on Heavenly Recordings, one of the UK's finest purveyors of tasteful indie tunes.

The four track Du Pouvoir/Power EP follows the Paris-based artist's track Baptism.

She said: "It is all about the beginning and the end: Baptism being the second birth (START), Du Pouvoir dealing with self-confidence and how to find your place in the world (CONSTRUCTION), and À La Fin (literally "At The END"), about what we keep and lose after love has gone.

"Dans La Nuit is actually the very first song I wrote in French, and has all been written during the night, and dans la nuit, we float, we escape until the next day is coming.

"The fact that I finally refused to choose between French and English ended up making sense when I signed to Heavenly Recordings, a double sign from heaven!"

Halo Maud has got dates around the UK next month supporting Baxter Dury with her very first show in London on February 23 before returning to France for shows around the country for the next two weeks.

Dominique A: Toute latitude

A new song with a striking video by Dominique A. Toute latitude is the title track of his forthcoming album, due to be released in March.

The video by Sébastien Laudenbach is one of four that will accompany the album, the other three being released in the run-up to the album's release. The four videos for Toute latitude will fit together to a larger complete video.

Laudenbach previously created the award winning animated film La jeune fille sans mains and also created the sleeve for the new album.


Toute latitude is Dominique A's 11th studio album, and it follows Éléor, released in 2015. That album featured the song Au revoir mon amour, a favourite of this blog. Éléor built on the critical and commercial success of 2012's  Vers Les Lueurs, which saw him picking up the best male artist award at the following year's Victoire de la musique award ceremony.

Despite his long and successful career, Dominique A is not taking it easy by any means. He said recently that following his tour for Éléor he found himself inspired by contradictory ideas for new sounds and writing. He was drawn towards rhythmic and repetitive versions of older texts, while the electric atmosphere of live performance giving him the opposing desire for melody and acoustic songs.

The consequence of this is that he's now got two albums set to come out in 2018, the first - Toute latitude - a rock album in the spring, the second - La fragilité - a more acoustic set scheduled for the autumn. There will also be two tours corresponding to the different collections.

Dominique A announced the first of these tour dates last month, and has lined up a series of shows around France in March, April and May.

He has two special shows in Paris on April 14 and 15, when he plays a la Philharmonie de Paris