We Speak Music
Set Feux drops spellbinding debut single ‘Say It Again’
Set Feux (a.k.a. Toronto based musician, Diana Planche) blends dreamy, sometimes bittersweet, nostalgic pop with lush vocal harmonies, ambient synths, guitars and sax on her debut self titled album, ‘Set Feux’,which is due for release on 19th April 2024.
Planche spent her formative years singing in church choirs and performing in community theatre productions. After finishing her studies in classical music at Queen’s University, she began writing her own songs, and eventually received an OAC and F.A.C.T.O.R grant to produce her first album released in 2009. In 2010, she joined indie rock band, The Paint Movement (Nevado Music) as a singer/keyboard player, and in 2011 released their self-titled album produced by Dave Newfeld (Super Furry Animals, Broken Social Scene). The Paint Movement toured extensively over Canada opening for bands like Yukon Blonde, Zeus and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. In 2015, Planche toured Europe with Toronto singer songwriter, Barzin. Upon returning from the European tour, Planche began working on new material with long time collaborator, Kevin Kralik (wearenotwhoweare, Mass Paves) and her husband, Barzin (Toronto based singer/songwriter) for what would become, ‘Set Feux’.
The album took over 5 years to complete, recorded in Toronto and Hamilton. The songs explore love, passion, loneliness and the overwhelming desire to unravel the mystery of one’s self. “There’s a multiplicity that exists in us all, sometimes I feel unknown to myself and I’m searching for the world to reflect who I am back”, says Planche. “On songs like, ‘Young and Lonely’ and ‘Say it Again’, I was remembering the loneliness I felt in my childhood and the close spiritual connection I felt that brought me comfort and there’s a part of me that’s still longing to recapture some of that. On other songs, like ‘Jumbotron’ and ‘Let Them Stare’, I’m exploring what it would feel like to be completely carefree and confident, to showcase one’s authentic self, no touch ups, no edits, just unfiltered and genuine”, she further reveals.
Musically, the songs reflect diverse influences, ranging from R ‘n’ B/soul to the pop/folk genres that Planche has been inspired by throughout her life. Her influences range from Debussy to Dusty Springfield, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, Kate Bush, Lauryn Hill, Imogen Heap, Wilco, Feist and Solange. But whilst Planche allows all of these influences to come forth on the album, she maintains her own distinct identity and voice as an artist, honouring the journey she’s taken to get here.
The album was mixed by Howie Beck at his studio in Toronto. Howie is a Canadian musician, mixer and producer. He has been nominated for three Juno Awards in Canada on three occasions for Adult Alternative Album, Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year (2017). He has produced and/ or mixed albums for The Weather Station, Hannah Georgas, Dragonette, Charlotte Day Wilson and Sarah Harmer. The album was mastered by Joao Carvalho, a grammy nominated mastering engineer, who has worked on albums by some of Canada’s finest artists such as KD Lang, Tanya Tagaq, Buffy St. Marie, Carly Rae Jepsen and Charlotte Day Wilson to name a few.
Michele Ducci has unveiled the second single, ‘Woman Like You’, from his forthcoming album and animated film ‘Snail in the Clouds’.
‘Woman Like You’ pairs bright distorted electric guitar with an electronic drumbeat, adding in Ducci’s soulful vocals and a catchy uplifting chorus with Letizia Mandoleisi’s sweet vocal harmonies. A vintage organ pedalboard operated by Ducci simultaneously generates chords, bass and rhythm, like a one-man band. Shane Kennedy (Girl in the Year Above) joins in on guitar. Simon Milner (Is Tropical, Ysing) recorded and produced the track at his 4am Studios in London.
The album and film tell the story of a planet called ‘Snail’, inhabited by hybrids – primarily a mixture between scorpions, snails and humans – who lead a life according to the style of Pythagoras, devoted to music. There is also a cloud man named Agostos, a writer of musical operettas, who together with a talking smoke machine called Doctor Subtilis, begins to kill all hybrids, targeting in particular the hybrid musician Diodoros and his band, in an effort to steal the ark of melodies, an ancient ship that allows the whole planet to survive with music and joy.
The video for the single, created and animated by Ducci and Mandoleisi, delves further into the realm of planet ‘Snail’:
Says Ducci, “The ark of melodies, after various attempts, finally starts to work and fly in the planet Snail, while the shady Doc. Sub. and Agostos, with their platoon of soldiers made of foggy smoke, spy the miracle, planning to steal the ark for their evil and tyrannical purposes.”
About the track, Michele says, “I wrote this song for my love Letizia. Love seen from the mind is the sound we make. Sound is the love of matter.
We used a Technics synthesizer organ from a flea market. I tried to find a mood that was right for the song and I started using the bass of the pedal board together with the synth and the drums, and it was magical to hear the song reveal itself all coming from a single instrument. Leti was singing with me and we recorded everything live in one shot. Then we made Shane do the guitar flight, as if he came out of the window. The idea was to maintain disproportions, guitar thrust and synth drum thinness a la Haroumi Hosono, so as to create an estrangement, but naturally: it’s about how I listen, with close up something that captures me in its nuance as element of a larger orchestra somewhere. I’m glad we decided in the studio with Simon to use the layers of arrangement as the close-ups in the cinema; they look like strange enlargements that perch on parts of a mutated orchestra. I’m happy to come back with this love song at a time when everything seems to opt, even my labor in managing the flows of selfishness that have poured out on me while doing this album, for the sound of war. I’m here happy to be able to say that the sound of love always wins as did for me. Snail in the clouds is one of the most important works in my life and I am glad to start from pure love for this album that is my son.”
The album and full-length film will be released on the 5th of June on Monotreme Records.
Michele and Letizia’s previous musical short film, ‘The Great Book of Nature’, is an official selection for the 2026 Venice Shorts Film Festival.
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