- Raoul Vignal
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From 2010 to this day, 30-year-old Raoul Vignal has been playing authentic, modern folk music. Forming the essence of his compositions, soothing vocals and delicate fingerpicking played on alternate tunings are Vignal’s trademark. His music has often been described by audience as ’evocative’ and ’mesmering’.
Shortly after the birth of his solo project at the age of 20, Raoul Vignal started performing live in venues and festivals throughout France, giving him a strong stage experience as a solo musician, whether playing for a small audience in intimate venues or captivating a larger crowd.
In 2013, he left his hometown Lyon for a 2-year-long stay in Berlin, where he has been very active in the singer / songwriter scene, frequently performing in the numerous venues the city has to offer.
After the release of his third EP in November 2014, recorded at Klangbild Studios (Berlin), Raoul Vignal composed the following year the original soundtrack to ‘Sweet Water of Memory’, a German-produced movie directed by Carlos Vin Lopes.
At the beginning of fall 2015, he returned to Klangbild Studios to record his first full-length ‘The Silver Veil’, with sound engineer Martin J. Fiedler, released on Talitres.
The concept of Raoul Vignal’s new album Shadow Bands takes root in his return to Lyon, his hometown, about ten years after leaving it. He roams the streets of his childhood once again, revisiting memories like the chesnut fair on the Croix Rousse plateau (“A Horse Named Fortune”), reflecting on his early years and the inevitable passage of time (“Pathway”). He draws inspiration from his brief stays in various places: Berlin, where a sad morning brings news of a war breaking out 1,000 kilometers away (“Canon Song”); Spain, with a reunion with his brother (“South, Brother”); Sète, where he exchanges words with a friend on the path to deafness, describing the distant call of a deer heard the previous week (“Deer Song”). Lyon remains his home base, yet the longing for elsewhere lingers constantly.
“Vignal plays mostly alone, and there is haunting solitude to his music that owes a lot to Nick Drake’s Pink Moon. But where Drake’s late work portrayed a lost soul burrowing tragically further into isolation, The Silver Veil sees Vignal confiding in others and embracing the outside world.” The Skinny
“Meandering through ten beautiful tracks, the record is a tender departure from the rush of the day; a thirty-six minute journey in to somewhere else entirely.” Goldflakepaint
“Calling to mind the delicate folk offerings of Nick Drake, Benoît Pioulard or Kings Of Convenience, it comes as no surprise that Raoul Vignal’s music has been so well received.” Folk Radio UK