Biography

"Florence Joelle's Kiss of Fire Paris-born, Camden-based, her music has a heady, jazzy swing of the hips, the sultry tango of 'I’ll Come Running' the perfect soundtrack to any Martini-fuelled, Mad Men-themed party."           Q Magazine

“It's her voice that smacks you around the head. It's utterly unique." Ruth Barnes' Pick Of the Week, Tom Robinson’s Show, BBC 6 Music

Florence Joelle, the songstress with a style all her own and a subconscious colonized by vintage American tunes, sings of things that go bump in the night.  Paris-born, she was bred on jazz at home, and on the music of the city’s streets: the Gypsy art of Django Reinhardt, bal musette, and North African rai.

You might think from the understated wisdom of songs such as the languid heart-melt of ‘I’ll Come Running’ and the heady rumba flamenca of ‘Gypsy Boy’ (gentler musically but still cutting deep) that here is a woman who has seen some nights and loved some loves… and you’d be right. She weaves the kind of potent magic only experience can conjure in the smoky seduction of ‘The Look In His Eyes’, and brings a similarly wise/weary worldliness to her recipe for ‘Watermelon Gin’, which ebbs and flows with delicious melancholy. But try to pin her down as some kind of lovelorn torch-singer, and you’d be way off the mark: the brilliantly spiky centre piece of the album is absolutely ‘True To Myself’ “From now on I’ll be independently true, no one can stop me, not even you.” Lose yourself in its glorious, galloping beat and listen to her peerless band fly: on drums and percussion - Arthur Lager (ciné auteur of notoriety), on bass Chris Campion (also a film-maker / soundtrack composer), and on lead guitar Huck Whitney (composer / The Flaming Stars).

As a girl she began to collect rock’n’roll, doo-wop and early blues… to paraphrase what was once said of Billie Holliday: to hear that voice is to truly hear jazz. While paying homage to the past, Florence Joelle’s Kiss of Fire has carved out a unique sound that vibrates in the present. Happening right now, you will never forget your first Kiss of Fire.

While paying homage to the past, Florence Joelle’s Kiss of Fire has carved out a unique sound that vibrates in the present.

Happening right now, you will never forget your first Kiss of Fire.