I
Camille

About:

10 March 1978

Camille Dalmais was born and raised in Paris, France. As a teenager she studied ballet and developed an interest in bossa nova music and American stage musicals. She attended the prestigious Lycée International de Saint Germain-en-Laye where she obtained her baccalaureate in literature. She performed her first original song "Un Homme Déserté" at the age of sixteen while attending a wedding. In the early 2000s, while performing at jazz clubs in Paris, Camille made her acting début in the film ‘Les Morsures de l'Aube’ (by Antoine de Caunes). She also contributed to the song ‘La Vie la Nuit’ in its soundtrack. She then admitted to the Institute of Political Studies of Paris , where she spent her internship at the production of her first album ‘Le Sac des Filles’. Her talent was soon recognized by fellow musicians Gerard Manset, Sebastien Martel and Jean-Louis Murat. In 2004, she began working with Marc Collin and his band Nouvelle Vague for whom she contributed vocals to the four songs on their first album.
In 2005 she released the album 'Le Fil', which was produced in collaboration with English producer MaJiKer. This album incorporated an avant-garde concept – a string, or thread (“le fil"), which was a drone that persisted throughout the entire course of the album. All of the songs in this album are based on the exploration of the voice, with only a double bass or double bass and keyboard as accompanying instruments. Le fil quickly became a gold album. In June 2007 Camille performed Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols and a new a cappella work God is sound (The 12 World Prayers) at L'église Saint-Eustache, Paris. Camille’s songs also started being used in commercials like for Cacharel and Perrier.

Later that year, she contributed to the soundtrack of Pixar's Ratatouille in the song entitled "Le Festin" in which she also was the dub voice of Collette. A new album entitled ‘Music Hole’ was released on 7 April 2008, again produced in collaboration with MaJiKer. In 2010 she made a brief return to Nouvelle Vague for which she redid TC Matic’s song ‘Putain putain’. She gave birth to her first child in November 2010, a boy named Marius, whose father is Clement Ducol. In October 2011 the album 'Ilo Veyou' was released.

On the web:

- Camille's site: http://camille-music.com/

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What do we think:

DB: Aah, the intriging depths of the human voice. If you think close harmony accapella acts are the pinnacle of that genre please let Camille reset your watch. From the start her elastic voice set a whole new standard on how to use your voice as an instrument. Added with handclaps, some woodkicks and maybe some plucks on a guitarstring or other junk lying around. Does this sound arty-farty to you? It's not. Camille's music is hip and trendy and highly accesable. But strange non the less in a way like Björk does she tweeks your ears. Most random music listeners know her from the Tuxedomoon cover 'A manner of speaking' which she did for Nouvelle Vague. As that cover did not do justice to the original it also does not do justice to the depth of Camille's talent. Weird and wonderful.

Recommended albums:

♪♪♪ - Le Sac des filles - 2002

♪♪♪♪♪ - Le Fil - 2005

♪♪♪ - Live au Trianon - 2006

♪♪♪♪ - Music Hole - 2008

♪♪ - Ilo Veyou - 2011

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♪♪♪♪♪ = outstanding album, an absolute must-have
♪♪♪♪ = great album, highly recomended
♪♪♪ = nice album
♪♪ = be careful, requires listening before buying
♪ = best to be avoided