Biography
Born in Paris, France, elodieO's initial fascination was musical theatre. This led her through a rigorous multi-disciplinary study of: Classical and modern dance techniques and choreography; Cello playing; Acting; and Singing. She has since added Video directing to her wealth of talent, as showcased in the CD-ROM video segment of this release.
Her coming to New York City in 1996 sponsored by a French government scholarship was a validation of her unique vision of modern musical theatre. Her inspiration then was Pina Bausch. After two albums in collaboration with multi instrumentalist Manuel Bienvenu (elm (popcornlab), sunny scenics (telescopic)) with whom she created elm in 1997, elodieO presents her solo album, as well as a video clip.
elodieO's compositions and arrangements recall Yann Tiersen, Craig Armstrong or a stripped-down Philip Glass in her classicals referenced cinematic imagery, and her delicate singing whisper has been compared in emotion and tonality to Nico (Velvet Underground) and Bjork on the one hand and the 60's French pop of Françoise Hardy on the other. The songs on this CD are divided equally between French and English but her modernist bel canto charm transcends any language she may sing in.
In these days of good but interchangeable electro-pop artists from Europe- Luomo, Stereo-Total, Laub amongst others - elodieO presents a refreshing acoustic audibility to a genre that rely too much on unnecessary large orchestration, but then she is also supported by actual instruments as Cello, Harp, Guitars, Contrabass and Hammond Organ.
Of her work as one half of ELM, Rolling Stone magazine wrote in 2002: elm and its delicate pop, whispered by elodieO and her charming french accent, could very well make itself a place in our record collection this winter. Comfortably settled in between the records of Katerine, Autour de Lucie and Tue-Loup.
- Ayo Osinibi