Some see travel as an escape, or as a form of surrender. Others, and one hopes they are the greater number, throw themselves into it, draw strength from it, and turn it into inspiration. Tamise, a nomadic duo, clearly belongs to the latter camp.

Juliette Bertrand and Jon Debande met in 2019, on the eve of the pandemic. She is from Brussels, an actress and violinist; he is from Bordeaux, a dancer and guitarist. Together, they sing and write songs. Silence Island, the title track, also became a soundtrack of sorts for lockdown life; they wrote it at a friend’s request.

In 2021, they left their home, chose life as street musicians, and spent three years travelling across several European countries, Portugal, Ireland, Germany and Belgium, where they performed and wrote new material. Back in France, they brought that journey to a close in the corridors of the Paris subway under the “Musiciens du Métro” banner, where they played with growing regularity and named their project Tamise, after light, gold seekers, the river, and even the word “tame”, in the sense of learning to tame and make the world one’s own.

They finally dropped anchor in Bordeaux in 2024, where they were spotted by L’Inconnue, a self-described “curious music scene” near Bordeaux, which offered them a development program. Silence Island, their debut album, recorded with Nicolas Dufournet at Studio MELODIUM in Montreuil between late 2025 and early 2026, will be released by Talitres just before summer.