The road to electro rock

In The Unexpected series we take a look at artists and musicians whose paths didn't go exactly in the direction you could have expected them to go. Sometimes life comes in the way or tastes simply evolve. That's what happened to Jeanne Added.

«Jeanne Added looks like she grew up with rock'n'roll,» wrote Les Inrockuptibles in February. But if short blond hair meant rock'n'roll, Joyce DiDonato would be the female version of Ozzy Osbourne. So, to what sound did Jeanne Added grow up? She started playing the cello at the age of 7 and also studied opera singing. She followed that path all the way to the Conservatoire national supérieur de Paris to study jazz and the Royal Academy of Music of London. She then played with/for a lot of people. «I said yes to everything and everyone,» she admits: Vincent Courtois, John Greaves, Rachid Taha, Baptiste Trotignon,... And then she stopped.

Around 2011 Added decides to work solo, sing differently and write her own songs. Dany Levy, one half of The Dø and arrangeur extraordinaire, is her guide. Songs go back and forth between the two until she reaches, not what she was aiming for, but simply what she was looking for: a «remarkable universe where an intense and rough minimalist pop answers to experimental electro music while brilliantly mixing rock, pop and jazz.» Sounds complicated? Just give it a listen and let us know what you think!

Jeanne Added's first album «Be Sensational» will be released on June 1st.

-- Julie