Holy Mountain by Grandamme

Grandamme

Taking cues from filmic, dystopian retromania and a distorted yet romantic aesthetic of fading glamour, new duo Grandamme are formed of Claudia Kane and Bastien Keb. Effortlessly interconnected, Kane’s timeless songwriting and soulfully affecting voice is wholly complimented by Keb’s dream-like production of dolorous orchestrated instrumentation warmly rubbing up against 80s sci-fi synthesisers and lo-fi beats. Their combined vision of haunting chamber-pop blends vintage and future aspects like a classic black & white movie being experienced anew in a virtual reality world.

Reoccurring themes of escapism, love, sensuality, vulnerability, melancholy and introspection permeate the lyrics of their songs. But a noir sense of the abstract blurs the obvious, leaving the listener to develop their own meaning. “Bastien’s music might be communicating something different to what I want to say and I find that interesting, as communication and expression aren’t just within the lyrics themselves” explains Kane. “Maybe as a listener, there could be things that may be quite jarring, opposing or complementary as there are different details of expression that could be picked out. I prefer to write lyrics later as a sort of interpreter for the subconscious.”

She continues, “I like to write music with a strong visual scene or moment playing out in my head like something from a film. A lot of the songs seem to capture a weird feeling and imagining what it would be like to escape”. This desire of flight juxtaposes her own life, as Kane admits that she’s “not really an outdoorsy person, I prefer the great indoors, watching documentaries and anything to do with the supernatural, sci-fi and horror movies.” However, she also loves “going clubbing, queer nighttime culture, fashion, and DJ’ing”.

On his formative musical influences Keb says “I generally got lost in movies and music as a teenager, which is where all my influences come from. I also got a lot of music off skate videos or hunting down samples from hip hop tracks''. In his music you can hear snippets of Western soundtracks, wistful do-wap ballads and eerie psychedelic folk. When asked how he wants people to feel when listening to Grandamme, he replies “Ideally, I want them to cry. Whilst dancing.”

As a solo artist, Claudia Kane has received tastemaker press and extensive radio play on BBC Radio with syncs to film & TV for A Simple Favor, The Spy Who Dumped Me & The Royals. Bastien Keb is a multi-instrumentalist songwriter and composer whose artist albums have gathered extensive radio play and widespread critical acclaim with the Guardian describing his recent album ‘The Killing of Eugene Peeps’ on Gearbox Records as "An imaginary soundtrack that recalls the proto-trip-hop of Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier, the rumbling scores of Bernard Herrmann and the cinematic swagger of Barry Adamson".

After meeting through mutual industry friends, they began collaborating on music virtually between their homes in Bath and east London. Finding shared passions over films and music, the idea for Grandamme was born. A debut album is currently in production, set for release by London label Def Pressé in 2022.

Taking cues from filmic, dystopian retromania and a distorted yet romantic aesthetic of fading glamour, new duo Grandamme are formed of Claudia Kane and Bastien Keb. Effortlessly interconnected, Kane’s timeless songwriting and soulfully affecting voice is wholly complimented by Keb’s dream-like production of dolorous orchestrated instrumentation.

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