Band: Klô Pelgag
Album: L’Étoile thoracique
VÖ: 20.04.2018
Label: Zamora Rec / Broken Silence
Website: www.klopelgag.com
Since her stage debut, Klô Pelgag has been an enigmatic, yet joyful breath of fresh air on the Francophone music scene. The singer-songwriter has truly become one of the most unique and meaningful artists of her generation.
Thanks to her extraordinary blend of songs, all tinged with her very special baroque stylishness and sprinkled with some cleverish nonsense, the young lady charms and shakes up her ever-growing audience. Her finely-chiseled music demonstrates Klô Pelgag’s instinctive desire to confront her own goals and means. “I enjoy feeling disoriented. There needs to be contrasts in every single one of my creations. A work of art can become quite boring if everything is always in perfectly squared harmony.”
One will discover this when listening to L’Étoile thoracique (Coyote Records, 2016), a musical fresco on which the artist’s music almost rises to the level of a sprawling-like concerto. It has landed on many best of the year lists in addition to being long-listed for a Polaris Music Prize. She was also handed the Prix Félix Leclerc and the Prix de la chanson SOCAN for her single Les Ferrofluides-fleurs (an award she shared with co-author Karl Gagnon). It has also received 11 nods at the 2017 ADISQ Gala, which highlights the musical achievements of the year in the province of Quebec and received four Félix (the ADISQ award): Album of the Year – Alternative; Album of the Year – Critics’ Choice; Producer of the Year for Sylvain Deschamps, Mathieu Pelletier-Gagnon, Klô Pelgag, and finally, Songwriter of the Year. L’Étoile thoracique was also nominated for a 2018 JUNO award in the category Francophone Album of the Year.
Released in 2013, her widely acclaimed debut album L’Alchimie des monstres, allowed Klô Pelgag to reach out to a broader audience and made her the Newcomer of the Year at the 2014 ADISQ. On the other side of the pond, she was awarded the Prix Barbara 2015, the Grand Prix de la francophonie de l’Académie Charles-Cros 2014. She has also received in 2017, the Prix Rapsat-Lelièvre which was handed to her during the Francofolies de Spa during the summer, this time around, it was for L’Étoile thoracique.
Klô Pelgag has played over 300 shows. Her concerts have become great happenings in Quebec, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Japan. Using the stage as her own personal playground, Klô Pelgag doesn’t try to show a polished version of herself. As the likes of great performers such as Brigitte Fontaine, she prefers to dive into the sea and work her way against the tide. Her live performance transforms into an area in which she leads her troops to faraway and unlikely lands. She thrives in chaos and frenzy. “When I’m on stage and start glaring into myself and my performance, I do not ask myself if what I’m doing is beautiful or proper. At the contrary, I would rather throw insults my way and put my act into completely uncomfortable positions.”
As unbelievable that artistic proposal may seem, it sure does fly and hit the target every time. Sailing on a sea of perpetual excess, she creates a full bloom of beauty and poetry exploding before our dazzled and enchanted eyes in a half marching band-like, half symphonic fresco. Klô Pelgag manages to create the most unique musical world, an obscure zone lined with cracks which let in thousands of pulsing lights, creating a space where all the songstress’s fieriness and sheer folly find their full meaning.
