Music Existence Because of Music, We Exist
Produced by Ian Caple (Tricky, Kate Bush, Tindersticks), ‘Divine Love’ seamlessly moves from ethereal and spacious to dramatic and soaring thanks to Victoria’s remarkable vocals and Jean’s powerful and intuitive guitar. ‘Divine Love’ is the title track from the Swedish/Belgian duo’s debut album due April 29.
Renowned visual artist Anita Fontaine has created the kaleidoscopic video for ‘Divine Love,’ which stars actress Annabelle Wallis (The Tudors, Peaky Blinders, Annabelle, X-Men: First Class)
Though based in Brussels, Victoria+Jean have travelled extensively, gigging and writing as they go. To fund their efforts, the pair even sold fridges and chocolates among other things. A former model, Victoria was born in Sweden, grew up in London before moving to Paris where at 16 she was signed as a solo artist by a French major label. However, she broke her four-album deal before releasing her debut album, unable to make the compromises demanded upon her by the label. She moved to Belgium where she met Jean and the couple began a career motivated by encounters, travels and sound, he having left school at the age of 16 to begin a life of touring the world with various bands and musicians.
The transient nature of their existence and experience of different cities and cultures has shaped ‘Divine Love’, a truly collaborative project. After narrowing down their work to a dozen tracks, they ambitiously hunted down their favourite producers, sent them the album’s tracks, and asked to collaborate with them. These names include John Parish (PJ Harvey, Goldfrapp), Rob Kirwan (The Horrors, Depeche Mode), Christopher Berg (The Knife), Joe Hirst (Stone Roses), Alistair Chant (PJ Harvey & John Parish) and Lucas Chauvière (De La Soul). Incredibly, each producer chose the track that was intended for them.
“We wanted them to have fun,” Victoria explains. “We gave them carte blanche to make them sound the best way they could.”
Ian Caple’s ‘Divine Love’ was the first they received back. “When I heard Ian’s version of the song I was amazed. I was speechless,” says Victoria.
The collaborative nature of ‘Divine Love’ also extends to the visual. In addition to tracking down Russian artist Oleg Dou to create the mysteriously beautiful portrait of Victoria which adorns the album cover, they have made videos for each of the album’s tracks. Travelling to Los Angeles, Tokyo and Sweden, they collaborated with an array of award-winning directors including Anita Fontaine, Maria Mochnacz and Spike & Jones.
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