London Grammar returns with "Californian Soil": "This album changed us all"

February 2014, 4th season of "The Voice". Mika, new juror, plays a master stroke by offering a cover of "Wasting My Young Years" to two of his proteges. Caroline Savoie and Melissa Bon deliver such a vibrant version that they both manage to qualify. Florent Pagny is amazed. "I would like to know who it is because I don't know". Mika introduces her to London Grammar, one of the purest voices in pop and "one of the most beautiful songs of 2013". The effect is immediate. The London group climbed to first place in album sales, “If You Wait” sold 300,000 copies, and toured the provinces, which is rare for a first album.

Seven years later, Caroline Savoie and Melissa Bon have disappeared from our radar.

And Mika left the TF1 telecrochet.

But Florent Pagny is back in "The Voice" and he invites London Grammar on the finale to perform "Wasting My Young Years".

The invitation is refused all the less since the trio has just released their third album, “Californian Soil”, and will also play their new hit, “How Does It Feel” this Saturday evening.

To read also "The Voice": a day behind the scenes of the final

"It is the first English group to play in a French program since the start of the pandemic", assures Emmanuel de Buretel, the boss of their French label, Because Music.

“We must observe a quarantine of five days before the show, explains Hannah Reid, the singer of the group, this Friday in Issy-les-Moulineaux.

We must not leave this house until the rehearsals tomorrow (Saturday).

We are tested every 48 hours.

And will be tested when we return to London.

"

"Here we have a popular success that we do not have elsewhere"

It's an investment, but London Grammar has a special relationship with France. It is its second market after the United Kingdom. Maëlle, winner in 2018, also marked “The Voice” by covering “Wasting My Young Years”. No wonder the band's excellent new album was ranked 3rd in sales upon release. “We have in France a popular success that we do not have elsewhere, summarizes Dominic Major, with keyboards and machines. Even in Australia and the UK where it works well, we switch to alternative radios, while here it's NRJ. “The Voice” has something to do with it. When we returned to France afterwards, the reception was stronger! "We spent a lot of time with you," smiles Hannah Reid. And so much the better, because it is here that I feel most considered as a singer.But to be honest, in

The Voice

, I would hold five seconds as a candidate. I don't do anything right under pressure. "

Self-confidence, her place as a woman in the group and in the music industry, so many struggles that nourish "Californian Soil", a metaphor for the American dream which is never far from the nightmare but also from the singer's own career.

“This album changed me a lot,” she says.

It was like therapy.

When we started, I suffered a lot from sexism.

I was the girl in the group and I heard so many remarks that it ended up making me lose confidence in myself.

On the second album, I put on a mask.

But on the third, I found confidence in myself, in my voice, I assumed to become the leader of the group.

It's easier today because we have more power as artists and things change with movements like Metoo.

"

A sibling relationship

“This album changed us all,” says guitarist Dan Rothman. We were leaving college for the first album, all three of us are 31 years old. We have become adults. I am the father of a four month old baby girl. Success has tested our friendship a lot, but it has come out of it enhanced. "We have a sibling-like relationship," says Hannah Reid. The three of us are very sensitive, but fortunately we also have the same sense of humor. And this album kind of liberated us, we've been more productive than ever in recent months. "

Pandemic requires, "Californian Soil" comes out six months late.

“We're still not sure we'll be going on tour again soon, but we did well to release it, philosopher Dominic Major.

We took the necessary time.

We have experienced more and taken it to a new level.

We abound.

Richly orchestrated, skilfully balanced, "Californian Soil" is the most successful of their three albums.

Its authors dig deeper into the groove of a pop that is both electronic and deeply human, powerful and melancholy, which can just as easily make us dance (“How Does It Feel”, “Baby It's You”, “Lose Your Head” ) than crying in our beer ("America", "All My Love", "Talking").

And their "Californian land" is fertile.

EDITOR'S RATING: 4/5

London Grammar "Californian Soil"

Ministry Of Sound / Because Music, € 15 CD, € 25 vinyl.