Portrait
09 October 2020

ALIOSE- The pop-folk duo, musical revelation

by Laëtitia Cadiou


After their nominations at the “Victoires de la Musique” in France and the Swiss Music Awards in 2018, the two Swiss artists with undeniable charm open a new musical page with the release on October 9th of a 5-track album with addictive melodies. Two vocal signatures, one suave and the other rocky, resonate with sparkling lyrics, an elegant and bewitching pop, a remedy against the current gloom. Let’s meet these two talents in perfect symbiosis.

Photos by Michel Juvet

When does the story of Aliose begin?

Alizé – We met in 2004 during a musical workshop in Nyon dedicated to songwriters and composers. A real artistic love at first sight, we were students with two universes, but the same desire: that of singing and playing on stage, which we will do in parallel with our studies. We are going to perform from stage to stage with an audience each time more numerous. The concerts follow one another and the rewards too. After some time we could start to live from our passion, so it is quite natural that at the end of our studies, in 2012, we will start to do only music.

Are the roles well defined in the duo?

Alizé – At first Xavier wrote with me but preferred to stay in the shadows, only as we were in concert, naturally Xavier began to accompany me and sing. Two very distinct voices but who find each other to distill the same emotion and become one.

Two universes, what are the sources of inspiration?

Alizé – I devour all kinds of music, especially English and atmospheric music.

Xavier – I was rather impregnated by French chanson, past and present, with more atypical phases that Alizé listens to less, like reggae or even psychedelic rock from the 70s.

A duo is a strength?

Alizé – We are very complementary.

Xavier – But it’s not always restful.

Alizé – It’s making concessions as in life, which sometimes alters our freedom, but someone opposite who always stimulates you further, to push back the limits, isn’t that also freedom? We are uncompromising with each other. I remember that for the song “J’ai oublié”, we were stumbling over the theme and the angle to adopt, Xavier said no to all my proposals, and that annoyed me, I went out in the courtyard of the recording studio in Belgium, annoyed, then I came back with this idea, and there he said “banco”. Without this confrontation we wouldn’t have reached this result.

The album “Comme on respire” produced by Warner Music will take you high up to one of the “Victoires de la Musique” and the Swiss Music Awards. What do we say to each other then?

Xavier – It’s a crazy moment, if someone had told us at the age of 18 that you’d be nominated at the Victoires de la Musique, we wouldn’t have believed it, a nomination, for us, it’s as if we’d won.

Alizé – This generated a clear awareness and fantastic visibility. Radio stations played our music a lot more and we had more concert proposals.

Novelty and great freedom for these 5 tracks in collaboration and produced by Puggy, a Belgian band rather pop rock and which sings only in English!

Alizé – This choice was made a little under the impulse of the Artistic Director of Universal who recommended us to meet Puggy and it was confirmed to be a very positive artistic adventure. I had the memory of a Puggy concert in Geneva a few years ago and I loved it.

Xavier – The meeting with Ziggy and Romain de Puggy was key in the elaboration of these five titles and in the artistic direction we chose to take. Great complicity, mutual respect of our respective musical universes, rigor in the work, we are very happy with this collaboration.

Projects despite COVID?

Alizé – I wrote texts for songs for a play, I was very happy with this work, a very enriching experience.

Xavier – I set up a project with our former drummer Felix Bergeron following a collection of poems that I had written ” Tu liras sur mes murs ” at Editions Slatkine, it became a show ” J’irai lire sur vos murs ” tested on stage a few days ago. I also finished writing a novel.

Alizé – Yes his novel is beautiful, we also wrote other songs for other artists.

What can we wish you?

Alizé – What is the best we can wish for an artist? That his songs are played and shared, that they meet a maximum of public, which we miss terribly.

Xavier – Get back on stage and let our music touch the audience that feeds us and transmits its energy to us.

Discover the interview:

Listen to Aliose :

Website AlioseSpotifyiTunes

5 EP “Like gangsters”, 2020

Album “Le vent a tourné”, 2012

Album “Comme on respire”, 2018

Album “Aliose”, 2009