Every month, JustFocus tells you about the artists who have just started and whose spell we have fallen in love with. Here are the JustFocus musical discoveries of February 2018!
This year, we are getting a makeover and we have decided to create new sections of which this monthly article is a part. It will allow us to make you discover very young artists, fresh, who just have a single or an EP to their credit or are about to release an album. We have not spoken to you yet and their news may still be discreet … But we're dying to share them with you!
Canek presents: Palmer
After a very successful audition at The Voice 2015 by joining Jennifer's team, Marion Palmer under the name of Palmer begins to discover her musical universe. Obscure electro pop , with a mix of French and English lyrics and an indie voice, are the main elements in his repertoire; notably in the singles Étrange ami, Mirage (So Real) and Syndrome, where she talks about an emotional syndrome that upsets her inside.
Under the Capitol Records label, Palmer points to Lorde as his main inspiration but we can't help but add an influence from singer Banks, certainly more oriented towards pop. Palmer is a pearl of French pop not to be missed.
Alfie Arcuri
Alfie Arcuri is an Australian singer, known for winning the fifth edition of The Voice Australia in 2016. After signing with Universal Music, he unveiled his first studio album Zenith in June 2016 where we can discover If They Only Knew. Sensitivity, nostalgia and emotion. The clip, the lyrics, the melody, takes all the attention of the listener from the first seconds, telling the love story between two boys, one of whom is in a relationship with his best friend. Handkerchiefs will be more than necessary to resist until the end of the video. A real wonder.
Sarah Vesselier presents: Not Wise
All beautiful, all young, all new. At the beginning of February, Nuit d'Azur was released, the first title of a French duo that smells like the south. Indeed, the song wants to recreate this warm and soft atmosphere of the nights on the Côte d'Azur, accompanied by discreet beats and sensual voices. The duo from Cannes is composed of Pablo and Virgil, 22, who compose and write themselves, mixing French and English with agility. So yes, it's only a title, but it's very promising as it's mastered. Not to mention that the song was released on the ElectroPoser channel (900,000 subscribers all the same), and that they signed to Inside Records, to whom we owe, among other things, the success of Petit Biscuit.
Noucky presents: Nakhane
Originally from South Africa, Nakhane has more than one string to his bow: novelist ("Piggy Boy's Blues"), actor ("The Wound " by John Trengove in 2017), singer-songwriter ("Brave confusion" in 2013), musician… And an ultra-communicative sensitivity.It was during a party organized in the buildings of Warner Music France that we fell in love with his disarming soul voice. On stage, a lot of charisma and sensuality; Nakhane embodies a purity and touching perfection that cannot be resisted. His music is a subtle blend of influences as varied as Marvin Gaye, Nina Simone, Ahnoni, David Bowie, Busi Mhlongo, Simphiwe Dana, Mbongwana Star or TkZee. Blues, jazz, soul, pop and African music: an exquisite cocktail! But how is it that this artist did not reach us earlier? The answer remains an enigma, but we are delighted to have finally been able to discover his music. His second album, "You Will Not Die," will be released on March 16. There are already some excerpts on Youtube including the captivating "Fog", a piano/voice piece that highlights its warm, soft and vaporous timbre.He will be in concert on March 29 at the Café de la Danse.
Cloud-Cuckoo-Land
In Aristophanes' comedy "The Birds" (414 BC)."Cloud-Cuckoo-Land" is the English adaptation of the city Nephelococcygia, an aerial city founded between heaven and earth by birds to hinder relations between men and gods. Behind this new project, hides Guillaume Bernard who we already know as the composer and guitarist of the band Klone. It was his meeting with the actress and singer Mélusine Fradet that allowed the birth of Cloud-Cuckoo-Land, an ethereal duo where the voice rises, breaks and starts again; where the melody is queen and where the guitar transports us to the border of reality, to the dream without ever reaching it. It is in this in-between that Guillaume and Mélusine abandon us with a beautiful and powerful music. The emotion here is on the skin; We shudder and ask for more. "Somewhere in Between" was released on February 23. We are waiting for more than a concert date to escape with them!
Emma presents: Ravyn Lenae
If Ravyn Lenae is not on her first EP, it is only very recently that she has been able to attract the attention she deserves. On February 9, she released her latest opus Crush, of which she had already released an extract and her regular clip. Sticky already announced the guideline of its new sound identity, and plunged us into a most retro atmosphere. It is singular, refreshing, soul and especially produced by Steve Lacy, who appears in two of the tracks of the EP. No surprise, therefore, to see it open for SZA during the Ctrl Tour and we are now waiting for a collaboration between the two singers… She will be present on May 2nd at the Maroquinerie. This is definitely a concert not to be missed.
