Florence Joelle’s Kiss Of Fire: Live at The Pheasantry, December 1st
Over the past two years, Florence Joelle’s Kiss Of Fire have been blowing away audiences all over Europe it seems. Released last September, their debut EP received great acclaim in the media, and their take on Chick Webb’s blues ‘When I Get Low I Get High’ was BBC 6 Music’s Pick Of The Week. Their album, released last July, has received an even stronger response…
“Paris-born, Camden-based, her music has a heady, jazzy swing of the hips, the sultry tango of ‘I’ll Come Running’ the perfect soundtrack to any Martini-fuelled, Mad Men-themed party.” Q Magazine
“Gloriously retro, incorporating elements of vintage rock’n’roll, jazz, French chanson, and rhythm and blues as it used to be”. RocknReel
“Tarrantino-esque sense of cool with a vocal style that imbibes both Peggy Lee and Edith Piaf with touches of jazz and rock ‘n’ roll”. Time Out
“An absolutely splendid debut”. Bucketfull of Brains
Florence Joelle’s Roma protest song, ‘How Many Chickens Are You Missing Today’ will be featured in the film Gypsyland out later this year, as well as on a compilation for Amnesty International. In the meantime, they play their most prestigious show to date, at London’s The Pheasantry, at 152 Kings Road, in the heart of ultra fashionable Chelsea.
Tickets are available from www.pizzaexpresslive.com or on the door on the night.
Florence Joelle’s Kiss Of Fire
Florence Joelle and her most worthy henchmen (Huck Whitney, Chris Campion, Arthur Lager) released their debut album, Florence Joelle’s Kiss Of Fire on Zoltan Records on July 10th. Their sound is an exciting smorgasbord of vintage rock ‘n’ roll, jazz and blues all sprinkled with a healthy swish of French style and Tarantinoesque panache.
This triumphant debut manages to combine a wonderful blend of unique covers (‘When I Get Low I Get High’ and ‘Unchain My Heart’) with some startling original songs, which flow together seamlessly to make this an album to be taken very seriously.
Keep an eye out for Florence playing live, and in the meantime here is a track from the album, When I Get Low I Get High’ to whet your appetite.
An introduction to Florence Joelle
Florence Joelle, the songstress with a style all her own, and a subconscious colonised by vintage American tunes, sings of things that go bump in the night. While her inspiration draws from the past, she and her marvellous band have carved out a sound that lives in the present, bringing their own slant to Chick Webb’s ‘40s reefer blues ‘When I Get Low I Get High’, and the ‘50s R&B staple ‘Unchain My Heart’. Of Florence’s own compositions, ‘Stardust Merchant’ echoes early jazz standards and the melodrama of the post-war French songbook, whilst her ‘Watermelon Gin’ is a wistful, calypso-tinged serenade to love lost…
1. Tell Us About Your Upbringing, specifically with regard to how you developed your love of music.
Paris-born, to a jazz-loving father and a classical mother, I was blown away when I first saw and heard Elvis in King Creole at a friend’s house. I was ten years old and didn’t even know he existed! Elvis changed everything, very quickly I started listening to Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent and Chuck Berry, and by the time I was 13, I was trailing the flea markets collecting rhythm and blues and rockabilly singles. The world was filled with records I didn’t yet know and needed to have! During my later teens I discovered the melodrama of French chanson, accordions and the music of Django Reinhardt, the North African rai from the street, and spent much time watching black and white American gangster films with jazz soundtracks where great Latin sounds were being played in louche bars. Later I discovered country, soul, folk and everything else, but it is the music of my early years that shaped my songwriting.
2. Define suave sophistication.
Suave, my favourite word… Not a question I have been asked before, would you believe. Suave sophistication has nothing to do with how rich or attractive you are, it is about how you choose to live: be true to yourself at least, know not to follow conventional thoughts, fashions and crazes as you have your very own, behave at all times as if you were walking on flower petals and existing on the best cocktails, live like a king even if you are a pauper. The following people are, or have been suave: Robert Mitchum, Miles Davis, Oscar Wilde, Orson Wells, Juliette Greco and obviously the lady in the song ‘The Lady Is A Tramp’, who is archetypically suave.
3. Complete the sentence: Elvis is…
The beginning of popular music as we know it. There is something beautifully tragic in the way he led his life, a beautiful, golden-voiced semi-god, glowing with oomph and cool, who grew into a man gone so early… The first of his kind, he didn’t have much control of his career, creatively especially.
4. London, Paris, New York… Your thoughts please.
Vital locations on the ley line of suave… London is still the world’s capital of music, and its energy and vitality are intoxicating in many ways. Paris is elegant and beautiful, and full of lovely sounds when you get past the surface, Django’s music can still be heard on the street, as well as African sounds (from north and south of the Sahara) old and new, and so much more… New York, now there’s the place… Sitting on a subway platform you realise that only there could bebop and modern jazz have taken shape, just hear these old trains passing along, sounding like avant-garde rhythm sections. Boogaloo (one of my favourite things) can still be heard, and beautiful folk music still being played. It’s as if the street is a giant magnet, and you might miss something if you don’t come out. Add to it dilapidated art deco everywhere, and the fact you can buy flowers from corner shops at 4am, my favourite playground!
5. What is the greatest song ever written, and why?
This is such a hard choice, there are so many… W.C. Handy’s ‘St Louis Blues’ comes to mind, if I try and make a rational decision. It has a beautiful melody that fits its story of love and deception, going from a standard 12 bar blues to a haunting minor tango, and back. The lyrics have emotional depth and tragic acceptance: her man has gone off with the St Louis woman, but she still loves him ‘like a schoolboy loves his pie’. It is so well crafted that people like Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and even the Flamin’ Groovies could make it their own.
Florence’s new EP Kiss Of Fire is out now.
