The Côte d'Azur has always been considered a high-rollers’ paradise. However, emerging singer-songwriter Hyleen Gil is proof that the French Riveria has much more to offer. This 20-something guitarist—who originally belongs to Cannes—has taken a unique blend of classic hip-hop textures and fused it with pop, jazz, and funk, to create something non-traditional, yet still deeply soulful.
“My music is a mix of many influences. I grew up with black soul music (Erykah Badu), jazz music (Herbie Hancock) and pop-folk music (Sting). The arts, in general, inspire me a lot. This, added to my love of travelling and new experiences, helps me compose and write melodies/lyrics from the bottom of my heart,” explains the self-taught artiste, whose ‘beatbox and claps’ rendition of Daft Punk’s Get Lucky went viral in Japan and ended up on J-Wave Radio’s Tokio Top 100 chart in 2014!
Stone Rollin’
After the success of her ‘mini-album’ titled U & I, Hyleen is currently on a tour of India, to promote her first ‘full-fledged’ artiste album B-side. “On this record, I wanted to work on the B-Sides which we all have and yet sometimes we hide it,” shares Hyleen, elaborating, “I needed to take time to build a ‘piece of me’ into the sound. Therefore, I wanted to do everything by myself: the concept, the music, and the lyrics.” To maintain authenticity, the entire LP was recorded live with help from drummer Nicolas Viccaro and keyboardist Julien Boursin, to embody ‘a real and organic feel’, as heard on the tune Dark Knight.
On January 11.
At Chavara Cultural Centre
anoop.p@newindianexpress.com
@godsonlymistake