Muriel Louveau: Skana

Muriel Louveau: Skana,  A look @ the album and the woman.

By K.K.W.

Not so long ago in the Pays de Laloire region of France (Laval to be exact) something amazing happened. Muriel Louveau was born. Singer, composer, poet, performing artist with a passion for the past, and a love of what the future has to offer. 

Now living in Paris, she began performing as early as 12 with one of her cousins. At the time she soon realized she was all to aware of the audience and the notion of performing. Unable to get past this, or maybe dealing with emotionally (a bit much for a 12 year old, albeit talented) she switch to writing and the more intellectual side of creativity. 

She developed a major appreciation of art history and literature; and it was during this period she began writing poetry. At some point she decided to research foreign languages to sing in. "....French wasn't enough...",  as she charmingly put it (Latvian, German, Latin, to name a few that sparked her interest). Muriel spoke of finding even more creative freedom singing in other languages, remarking about wanting to sing in Russian as well. 

All this would go into the creation of Skana, an album she created with composer/producer Charles B. Kim in 2008; consisting of 12 unique songs with piano, guitar, synthesizers, and percussion's by Mr Kim with vocals by Muriel. Skana is a bold, daring album with a flow and feel of ethnic rhythms that take you on an epic adventure of sound. Oddly enough, but in-keeping with the times, the album was created through internet exchange, making their creation all the more amazing. Muriel was in France and Mr Kim in L.A. The album taking about a year and a half to produce.        

Photo by Emmanuel Bovet,
"When night is falling".

Photo by Kyle Warren.

Skana seeks to explore the boundaries of light and dark through music influenced by both classical vocals and modern cinematic music. Muriel's voice rings through like a haunting, shimmering wave emanating from the center of her soul. A soul that "....is painted like the wings of a butterfly" (Queen: The show must go on). It's as if your drawn into a world that sounds at once ceremonial, religious, and filled with elements of past cultures. All this carried along by piano, guitar, percussion's and synthesizers by Mr Kim that is in perfect harmony with the vocals. Its a soulful fusion given birth to,  on the cusp of digital and technological exchange. A friend in common to both artist's, Mark Cheng, had suggested they they both collaborate on a project. And even now that projects power is still felt. In a conversation on skype, I asked her about the albums impact in France. She said "I think it resonates more outside of Paris. Its more difficult here when its not in French". While I understand this, I think its their loss. Skana is amazing. Aside from all this Muriel has had various performances in different parts of the world (she performed in Latvia 4 years). 

A major one being at the New Wave Festival at the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) some years ago called,  "The World Mysteries". It was a 5 performance run which, at the time, was considered shocking and a little incomprehensible, or so said a critic from the N.Y Times (fool). Most recently she performed excepts of Skana at the Galapagos Art space in Brooklyn and GalleryMC in Manhattan, both with Emily Pope Blackman, a fantastic dancer. Miss Blackman's dancing went perfectly with Muriel's singing at both performances. At Galapagos they had a much larger space to work with, which lent itself to the scope of the performance. At GalleryMC it was one song from Skana (Et la mer) which was wonderful to behold. Muriels haunting vocals reverberating and merging so well with Miss Blackman beautiful movements; it was great.  

Skana at Galapagos art space. Photo courtesy
of Muriel Louveau.

Muriel Louveau is one of the most interesting people I've met at GalleryMC. She is huge fan of William Blake, Lisa Gerrard and movies. Although she would not say much about it, her next project involves Mary Shelley, and most likely will take place in NYC. Skana is an exploration of the boundaries of light and dark, which is a reflection of the great woman who had a hand in making it so. The elements of it are the other side of the coin that is.....Muriel Louveau. 

If you would like to know more, listen to or purchase Skana, go to: www.skana.bandcamp.com/album/skana http://vimeo.com/user9038868/videos  www.vimeo.com/channels/255062  http://www.skanamusic.com/index.php   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDQZ_Jmx75U  http://skanaproject.blogspot.com/    "Art is the reason, art is the way".

Skana at Galapagos art space. Photo courtesy
of Muriel Louveau.

Skana at Galapagos art space. Photo courtesy
of Muriel Louveau.

At GalleryMC, launch of "MC Mondays".
Emily Pope Blackman is on the left, and Muriel
on the right. Photo by K.K.W.

Performance of "Et la mer" from the album Skana
at GalleryMC(MC Mondays). Photo by K.K.W

Performance at GalleryMC(MC Mondays) of "Et la mer"
from the album Skana. Photo by K.K.W

Performance of "Et la mer" from the album Skana
at GalleryMC(MC Mondays). Photo by K.K.W