Emilie Simon - Photography

The Big Machine Tour - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels. Emilie Simon Pictures.

Monday 23rd November 2009 saw the start of the European section of the tour for Emilie Simon. Originally from France, Emilie, aged 31 has composed many albums and is signed to Barclay/Universal Music. She has also produced a selection of film scores, including ‘March of the Penguins’, to which she won the ‘Best Music For A Film’ award.

Emilie moved to New York about a year ago to kick-start a new angle to her musical career. Already a multi-instrumentalist, composer and super well educated sound engineer/producer, her new album ‘The Big Machine’ was released in September 2009. The lyrics are 99% English (with the odd chorus in French) and sounding more than a bit like Kate Bush (with bells on!), the album and single release (Dreamland - see video) have been a huge success.

The concert began with support act ‘Paco Volume’ playing a great selection of New Rave inspired European songs, which really got the crowd going. Consisting of lead vocalist/guitars, drummer, bass and keyboards/backing vocals, they produced a large and full sound. Emilie played with her new band consisting of only a bass guitar/double bass player, kit drums and herself. Emilie played piano, ‘Tenori-on’ and a selection of effects instruments, most notable of which is ‘Le Brissot’ – a bespoke multi-effects machine that was mounted to her left arm during the show. The name for this instrument comes from the original creator and previous group member ‘Cyrille Brissot’, who teaches at IRCAM in Paris (the worlds only university dedicated to contemporary music).

The concert hall was full to the rafters, everyone fully immersed and concentrating on the performance. I was on the front row capturing as many photographs as I could. To finish the gig, the band came back for an encore, then disappeared. Emilie came back a second time and played a solo of ‘The Cycle’ from her new album, with only piano as backing.

The whole event was breathtaking for me as it was the first time I had seen Emilie live. It was an honour to be assigned by Universal Music as the official photographer and I hope that Emilie and the band enjoy the images and put them to good use.

- Jonathon.

* As there are so many, only some of the images will be shown in the Music Gallery.

For the full gallery, visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathondow/sets/72157623181357874/

Emilie Simon Personal Website: http://www.emiliesimonmusic.com/