Monsieur Mâlâ

« My name is Monsieur MÂL 

I'm not a human, I'm a machine. »

The lyrics of Storyteller, which introduce Monsieur MÂLÂ's debut album, serve as an introduction: the quintet is an empirically conceived, organically produced machine, capable of telling stories through instrumental music.

Its cogs are Nicholas Vella (piano, keyboards), Swaéli Mbappé (bass), Yoann Danier (drums), Robin Antunes (violin, mandolin) and Balthazar Naturel (saxophones, English horn). These strong personalities, whose complicities go back a long way, are all recognized leaders or sidemen in the sphere of jazz and its satellites. Their technical baggage, cosmopolitan influences and travelling souls stir up a decoction of funk and rock, African and Caribbean music, while ingesting new urban and electronic trends. Nothing is glued or fused, everything flows. This feeling of fluidity prevails on an album unlike any other, and which could only be titled Monsieur MÂLÂ. Named after the rosary used to recite mantras, the band seeks and achieves transcendence, both in the studio and on stage, where their reputation fills the halls. Writing and improvisation, charisma and interaction, rowdiness and quietude, but also groove, jubilation and elevation...