A SINGER MUST DIE [OPA-Bastille 24 juillet 08]

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For further information on ASMD, please e-mail the band at [email protected]
For any ASMD updates and for news on shows/release dates please email us with the subject title 'ASMD news' and we'll be sure to add you to our mailing list.
SELECTED REVIEWS
chroniques ASMD
COD [Fr.] : 'Album honnête et grâcieux, [...] une bande-son de vie intemporelle.'
[May '08 - UK, Wales] : 'On a whole a very good album, but not instant a definite grower and well worth sticking with. Crash is outstanding and the slower paced tracks are very well written, if a little dark at times. Stick with the album after repeated listens it worms into your consciousness and before you know it you are reaching for it time after time. Hopefully there is more left in the tank before the singer meets his titular fate. [...] Manuel is a great storyteller.' Chris Phillips
[mai '08 - FR] : 'A Singer Must Die maitrise parfaitement son sujet dans ce premier effort qui ravira tous les fans de musique pop un peu différente et novatrice. Les mélodies sont fraiches et les lignes de chant féériques, on se croirait dans un de ces vieux contes par moments, pour ensuite basculer dans un mauvais rêve, grâce aux sons électriques et chaotiques.'
[mai '08 - FR] : '[...]une émotion sur le fil, pudique et presque tranchante. [...] L’ombre d’Elliott Smith plane ("Inadequate") ainsi que celle des Fab four, la production de Today it’s a wonderful day rappelle d’ailleurs celle de l’album blanc. [...] dix titres à la mélancolie contagieuse et à la beauté tourmentée dont on attend la suite avec impatience.'
[issue April '08 - US, Wisconsin] : 'Manuel Ferrer, vocalist for ASMD has a voice that is both penetrating and unique. [...] ASMD can really convey, with convincing clarity, the raw tide of emotion within the song. With influences like Joy Division and God Speed! You black emperor it should be no surprise that ASMD is an ever growing metamorphosis of talent.'
***[FR] : 'Les titres sont efficaces et s’enchaînent sans déception, portés par la voix très aérienne souvent rupturiste de Manuel Ferrer [...] : J’ose l’écrire : que les fans des Beatles ou autres Elliott Smith soient rassurés, la relève est là !' Karl Bernier
'Le monde que Manuel Ferrer dessine est agité par des sentiments extrêmes, écartelés en permanence entre des euphories aux tonalités ironiques, très joueuses et parfois provocatrices, et des terrains d’une âpreté des plus pessimistes'
KINGEM : 'Un groupe de rock français qui attise d'abord la curiosité, puis l'intérêt et enfin la fierté. Les mélodies nous entraînent dans la somptueuse et rebondissante bulle ASMD'
[issue 61/March 08 - Brooklyn/NY, US] : 'A French band with a definite Brit-sensibility, ASMD are here to add more melancholic warmth to your already miserable day. Seriously, now. The duo of Philippe Le Guern and Manuel Ferrer have debuted with an album of slow-burning, UK-styled guitar gloom, and there are some quality songs here. There's a jauntiness to this melancholia, evidenced on quirky tracks like 'Croydon Road' and 'The Crash'. 'Marlon R' is a heartfelt paean to.....someone ( Marlon R. maybe?). I occasionally hear glimmers of Damon Albarn in Ferrer's vocal, so, it's no surprise that ASMD are already getting more attention in the UK than their native France (Gainsbourg this ain't). Ultimately, the album flows well, even if it sounds a bit overwrought at times.' Mike Pearlstein
[jan 08] : 'Well, what can I say about this unusual little piece. It's like a composite of a few decades of influences constructed as a documentary show tune! I hear Smiths, Beatles, Elvis Costello, Kinks, Divine Comedy all produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber haha!. When I find out this is a band from France/UK singing about Croydon Road I realise I'll never really understand it all but it does fascinate me' -

*******°°° [dec 07 - Italy] : 'Brio e classe pervadono l’intero album [...] Un disco pieno di affascinanti idee, che matura ad ogni ascolto per un gruppo che si aggiunge a gruppi come Divine Comedy e Blue Nile nella pattuglia degli esploratori dell’animo romantico del pop-rock.'

[sept '07 - UK] : 'If you're going to take your name from the title of a Leonard Cohen song then you have to be either, extremely mad, extremely confident or extremely good. French duo A Singer Must Die are probably all three!'

[aug. '07 - UK] : 'Very excellent band, great session! This is a really good album I would highly recommend, the whole ambiance is this fantastic classic singer/songwriter, and very french, but the same song has lots of different influences : I actually write down Johnny Cash, The Dears, Arcade Fire, Divine Comedy and Pulp. It's a very nice piece of work.' Richard Pitt & Gary Smith, Bristol Uncovered
CDREVIEWS
[US] : 'Lead singer Manuel Ferrer holds a Morrissey-like waver in his voice somehow co-joined with the spirit of Noel Coward. I could easily imagine him sat reclining in a deep backed leather chair swilling a glass of brandy in a deep mahogany furnished boudoir...A Singer Must Die is a decent duo however without doubt; a little eccentric in their own way, but refreshingly this eccentricity is in no way contrived. [...] The vocals throughout the album contain an encompassing worldly-wise tone that is reminiscent in places as bands such as Hefner and The Smiths and you have a band that contains a lot of promise' [read more]

[FR] : [This album] 'sounds very close to Elliott Smith's records (to whom the album is dedicated, and who has left his haunting shade all along these 10 songs) and stands out in our minds in a lasting way. A very nice thought about the dark side of this thing for which numerous martyrs have died, and that is called Rock'n'Roll.'
*****° [n°110 - May '07 - Fr.] : 'As beautiful as perturbed, indie pop in the great British tradition of the most mythical duos'

***°° [UK] : 'Packed with fallen out of love songs that sound even more charming because of Ferrer's unusually guttural French accent. [...] From haunting to deep, an album for cynics and the sore-hearted.'

[UK] : 'Clever and honest lyrics, well crafted songs'
[oct '07 - FR] : 'On ne peut que s'incliner devant ce travail qui a abouti a des bijoux de pop-folk obsessifs et grâcieux.'
POPNEWS
[Cet album] 'sonne très proche des galettes d'Elliott Smith (à qui ce disque est dédié, et qui laisse son ombre sur tout l'album), et marque durablement les esprits.[...] Une très jolie réflexion sur le côté sombre de cette chose pour laquelle nombre de martyrs tombèrent, et qu'on appelait le Rock'n'roll.'
MAGIC
*****°[n° 110-mai '07] : 'Aussi beau que perturbé, de l'indie pop dans la grande tradition des duos les plus mythiques'

[n°8] : 'Que les Bowie, Scott Walker, Divine Comedy, Morrissey ne s'inquiètent pas trop. Plus qu'une relève, ASMD met sa pierre à l'édifice du songwriting'

[n°76] : 'Duo hanté de pop classieuse. Un album addictif'

****° [nov '07] : 'ASMD est visiblement très doué dans la construction de ses morceaux, [...] Très bel album réalisé avec classe et brio'
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SELECTED GIG
reports
Liz, Edinburgh [UK] :'It is rare to witness such truly outstanding music, lyrics and personality, all so perfectly intertwined. You're just one of the best live bands around.'
Roger, Edinburgh [UK] :'A chance visit to Henry's Cellar and a fabulous surprise in the shape of A Singer Must Die! Such a great set. So glad to have seen and heard you live.'
Barry, Lake District [UK] :'Thank you guys for a great moody performance here on the Wooded Grotto stage.'
Mr Sock, California [US] :'Music becomes integral to events in the listeners life. I'm going through a hard break up after a 26 year relationship. Sometimes the only thing that gets me through the day intact is your album "Today, Its a Wonderful Day". I can't say exactly why but it's salve for my wounded soul. When it's raining inside my heart your music helps keep it from drowning. Can't thank you enough.'
Kevin, London [UK] :'awesome set you did at iktoms, thanks muchly!'
Let Them Eat Gak, London [UK] :'top performance at Bored Youth On Prozac with Holy Joy t'other sat.'
A SINGER MUST DIE presents
Photo by Jef Rabillon New EP and video 'MARLON R.' [Guest guitar : Jean-Pierre Theolier]
+ 3 bonus tracks [acoustic live session recorded for Resonance FM-London] Available for download from DD stores
OUT NOW
EN CONCERT ACOUSTIQUE A L'OPA-BASTILLE [PARIS]
24 juillet '08