Émilie Simon
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| Émilie Simon | |
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 Émilie Simon, Octogone, 2004
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| Background information | |
| Born | July 17, 1978 |
| Origin | Montpellier, France |
| Genre(s) | Electronic |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, composer |
| Years active | 2003–present |
| Label(s) | Universal (2003–present) Milan (US only) |
| Website | EmilieSimon.com |
Émilie Simon, born in Montpellier in 1978, is a French singer and composer of electronic music.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Establishment
Émilie Simon, the daughter of a sound engineer, grew up in Montpellier, France. She studied lyric singing at a Conservatoire for seven years before studying ancient music at the Sorbonne and later electronic music at the IRCAM; she tried her hand at jazz and rock until finally turning herself towards electronic music. She concluded her advanced studies, obtaining her DEA in contemporary music.
Émilie Simon is a multidisciplinary artist; writing, composing and singing in all of her albums. She is also familiar with recording equipment, often adding her personal touch into arrangements and production. She programs and edits the sound effects in most of her songs. The now soon to be married artist kept her engagement to John Santiago a secret as recently unveiled this August 2007. Emilie Simon continues to expand her fame throughout the nation.
[edit] Music
[edit] Émilie Simon
In May 2003, she released her debut album Émilie Simon. The electronic album was critically acclaimed and went on to become a commercial success. To promote her album, she did numerous live performances and TV appearances all over France. In 2004, she was rewarded with a Victoire de la musique in the 'Electronic Album' category for the album.
Two music videos were made to promote Émilie Simon for the songs “Désert” and “Flowers”. The English version of “Désert” had an identical music video to the French version. Émilie Simon was also re-released in certain parts of the world with additional tracks. Despite having been released for over 3 years, the album was still charting in the French mid-price album charts in late January 2007.
More recently, Émilie Simon has begun performing and releasing CDs in the United States. Her first U.S. release, The Flower Book, came out November 2006. The release was followed by a brief tour to New York and Los Angeles. In April 2007 Émilie released her second recording in the United States, The March of the Empress.
[edit] La Marche de l’empereur
Wishing to orient her second album towards a more wintry or polar setting, she proceeded to record sounds which relate to coldness such as the sounds of smashing ice and footsteps in the snow. Coincidentally, in the midst of her search for sounds for the album, she was contacted by producer Luc Jacquet to compose the original soundtrack for his documentary film La Marche de l'empereur (March of the Penguins in English), concerning the migration of emperor penguins during their annual migration.
The film came out in France at the beginning of 2005, featuring a soundtrack by Emilie Simon that was also released by Universal Music as her second album. In 2006 she won the Victoire de la musique in the “Film Soundtrack” category and was nominated for a César Award for the best film music composition. It should be noted however that the version of March of the Penguins that was released in the United States and in English Canada used a more traditional documentary soundtrack scored by Alex Wurman, the local producers fearing that the Émilie Simon soundtrack would be too challenging for North American viewers (the only cinemas in North America to screen the film with the Émilie Simon soundtrack were those of the French circuit in the province of Quebec). The Canadian DVD version of the film offers both the French version with Émilie Simon's soundtrack and the American version with that of Alex Wurman.
[edit] Végétal
In 2006, Émilie Simon released her third album, Végétal, in which she uses the sounds of plants; as hinted by the name. The lyrics play with words, always relating to flora. The album also contains more elements of rock music. This comes forward in some of the more lively tracks, such as “Fleur de saison”, where she plays an electric guitar. The sound remains nonetheless that of electronic music while her voice maintains its candor, softness, and beauty.
A music video has been aired for the first single “Fleur de saison”, the second one called “Dame de Lotus” has also been already aired. The album utilizes OpenDisc technology which enables access to special content such as songs and music videos on her official website. Végétal is her only album to have more than one cover image. Currently, three separate covers exist for the album.
[edit] The Flower Book
In late 2006, she released The Flower Book in the USA (April 2007 in Canada), a compilation album of her first three records, with some added material from her short international tour which included stops in New York and Los Angeles. She also used MySpace to convey messages to fans. Furthermore, “Désert” was released in vinyl in the US. The track “Rose hybride de thé”, originally from Végétal, will officially be the first single release intended for US audiences.
[edit] À l’Olympia
On March 5, 2007, Émilie Simon released her first live album, titled À l’Olympia. The set exists as a sole CD or DVD, and contains live footage from a concert recorded on September 19, 2006. Songs from all of three of her albums are present in the recording.
[edit] The March of the Empress
As a follow-up to Émilie's debut U.S. release, The Flower Book, The March of the Empress (La Marche de l'empereur) was released April 3, 2007. Written as the original score to the European version of March of the Penguins, Émilie's full recordings were never released in the United States.
[edit] Concerts
During her stage performances, she performs alongside IRCAM’s Cyrille Brissot who directs the program and Medhi Parisot on the guitar.
On July 1, 2005, at the Eurockéennes of Belfort, she gave a live concert with the participation of Synfonietta de Belfort and the Lyon percussion group. She worked with both of these ensembles again in a second concert, January 19, 2006 at Le Grand Rex in Paris.
She then toured with Placebo, doing the first part of their tour from 29 September 2006 until the 4th December 2006. She has also done numerous concerts abroad, in Germany, Australia and the U.S..
[edit] Discography
Albums
- Émilie Simon (2003)
- La Marche de l'empereur (2005)
- Végétal (2006)
- The Flower Book[1] (2006)
- À l'Olympia (2007)
- The March of the Empress (2007)
- Untitled fourth studio album (2008)[1]
Singles
- Désert (2002)
- Flowers (2003)
- Song of the Storm (2005)
- Fleur de saison (2006)
- Rose hybride de thé (2006)
- Dame de lotus (2007)
EP
- Live Session EP (2007) released exclusively on iTunes
- Fleur de saison
- Dame de lotus
- Désert
- Wanna be your dog
- Song of the storm
- Frozen world
[edit] Prizes and Nominations
[edit] Victoires de la musique
- 2004: Electronic Music/Groove/Dance album of the year for Émilie Simon.
- 2006: Original Film or Television soundtrack of the year for La Marche de l’empereur.
- 2007: Electronic/groove/dance album of the year for Végétal
[edit] Nominations
- At the Prix Constantin in 2003 for the album Émilie Simon.
- At the Césars in 2006 for Best Original Soundtrack with La Marche de l’empereur.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- (French) Official Website
- (French) Fan Forum
- (French) Fan Site
- Some of Emilie Simon's lyrics translated into English
- interview (sound, photo & video / pinkwork)
- forum (photo & text)
- Emilie Simon on Velvetpanda
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