Vendredi sur Mer
One fall afternoon in 2014, a young photographer exhibits her work at the Crock’N’Roll cafe in the Saint-Paul district of Lyon. Her series of cold colored shots portray a modern regard on society, a place occupied by women and beautiful still lives.
The photos are striking, but what is even more so is the song playing in the background to accompany them.
The song features a melancholic background with a talk-over in French repeating “Do you remember?”
Without even knowing, the talented photographer named Charline Mignot started her music career.
After being insistent over emails, Facebook, and other channels, we were finally able to meet up.
The idea to work together took shape without really knowing where to go, or how to go about it.
The growing friendship around our shared vision leads to a lot of exchanges, and while remaking the world one evening, the project of “Vendredi sur Mer” was born.
Very quickly, the idea to put her in front of the microphone made its way and we decide to do a mock-up with the help of Loïc from Moi Je and Léo from Bleu Toucan, two groups that we were producing at the time. From there “Mort Fine” is created.
Naturally, Charline is charged with the cover art. The visual universe for the project is mysterious and that tone reflected well in the mini-bio that we write for her Soundcloud profile:
“Marble Mountain and Lunar Pacific.”
Hundreds of thousands of listens later, we started writing a second track.
That’s when Lewis OfMan came into play. We met him shortly before, he is young, talented, and only wants to make music. We ask him to do a remix of the existing track “La Femme à la peau bleu,” as a test. The track he gives us turns out amazing and supersedes the original version, so we end up releasing it as the official version.
The unification between the atmosphere of Lewis’ track and Charline’s voice makes perfect sense, so we decide that we must continue working with Lewis for the rest.
It’s not always easy to convince them, but with a bit of persuasion, perfect harmony is created.
A few months after the release, the track is used for the tribute to Sonia Rykiel. It’s thanks to this must watched tribute that “La Femme à la peau bleue” is given all the attention that it’s due and with a stroke of luck, the aura of Vendredi sur Mer is launched.
The bases for the project are laid down, spoken-word over electro instrumentals, this is the recipe that we decide to follow while creating the first EP; Marée Basse.
The visual identity is elegant, it reveals only a few things, little by little, creating over the months a real community who patiently wait for news from the artist. For putting together the imagery for “La Femme à la Peau Bleue,” we put our confidence in the hands of the future great talent, who was just getting started at the time, Alice Kong. This clip is none other than her very first video.
The result is above our expectations, the symbiosis between the song and the images reinforce even more the universe of Vendredi sur Mer.
In parallel to all this, we start thinking about a live concept to present her songs to the public, thus creating a more concrete project.
The choice is made to take inspiration from female singers in the 70s, such as Sheila, amongst others. Along with having Vendredi sur Mer surrounded by dancers instead of musicians, to add rhythm to it all and surround her with a scene that makes us understand her universe. A true spectacle.
Trois baudets, Point Ephémère, Gaité Lyrique, and Olympia were the chosen venues to showcase her spectacle in Paris, as well as numerous other venues in France, including festivals and shows outside of France.
The culmination of this development is none other than the release of the artists’ first album in March 2018. A group effort that was completed in Normandy (Yport) and an album that symbolizes the first steps in the music of Vendredi sur Mer, but also of Lewis OfMan and Profil de Face.
Whereas not many people believed in the project in the beginning, today it accounts for more than 80M streams, and it will always remain something we are proud of.