Madeleine - Colour Me (EP)

Madeleine is a London-based keyboardist, singer and songwriter. Having grown up in a musical family, she made a name for herself on the London jazz and neo-soul scenes, playing with acclaimed and up-and-coming artists like Arlo Parks, Chloe Bodur and Poppy Ajudha. We’re thrilled to reveal that lockdown has provided Madeleine with the time and space to focus on her own music for the first time in many years. The result is her debut EP, Colour Me, released by IXCHEL on the 12th November.

After graduating from the Brit School in 2016, Madeleine moved on to Goldsmiths University, studying Popular Music. While learning new, pop-oriented songwriting processes, Madeleine immersed herself in the London scene, playing keys in countless jazz lineups on stage and in the studio, in the capital and touring around Europe.

Written at both the piano and the step-sequencer, Colour Me illustrates Madeleine’s love and affinity for both beats-oriented jazz and lyrical neo-soul. Across all four tracks, her mellow vocal tones flow between verses and languid scatting – solo or joined in beguiling harmony. Shimmering organ sounds, neck-snapping drums, twinkling percussion and liquid basslines infuse in the mix, produced to hypnotic effect by Madeleine and Ebi Soda’s VVilhelm. Lyrics and sounds recall the warmth of blue Summer nights, love, loss and lingering memory, suspended in this hazy, sensory soundscape.

The influences of jazz-inspired beat makers like Stones Throw’s Kiefer, J Dilla and DJ Harrison are evident across the record, as is the lush electronic production of Brainfeeder artists like Lapalux and Flying Lotus. Madeleine’s singing voice recalls the bittersweet soul of Lianne La Havas, flowing singular and clear, or fluttering in delicate trills.

A masterful combination of intuitive beat-making, florid soundscapes and thoughtful, melancholic vocals, Colour Me marks an essential debut from one of the London jazz scene’s most exciting new voices.