Klô Pelgag

Since releasing her debut album in 2013, Klô Pelgag has taken the francophone music scene by storm like an enigmatic breath of fresh air, becoming one of the most compelling and unique singer-songwriters of her generation. 

Devoted to bold melodies and poetic lyrics, she charms and moves audiences with delicately crafted tracks that shine a spotlight on the instinctive desire that fuels her creativity. The artist’s third LP, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, was released in 2020 by Secret City Records. It’s a life-saving album that tells a story of a deeply rooted journey, an experience that is suffocating and painful at times, but extremely empowering and liberating. This album sparked something truly amazing in the artist. With it she took control, followed the beat of her own drum and pushed the boundaries of “pop” music.  Klô Pelgag rose to fame following the release of L’alchimie des monstres.

Lauded by critics and audiences alike, the success of her debut album propelled her to award-winning artist status, earning her prestigious awards in Canada and Europe, including Best New Artist at the Gala de l’ADISQ in 2014, the French Cultural Minster’s Prix Barbara in 2015, the Grand Prix de la Francophonie from l’Académie Charles Cros in 2014, the Prix Miroir Célébration de la langue française at the Festival d’été de Québec, and was named Radio-Canada’s 2014-2015 Révélation chanson. Her second album, L’étoile thoracique (Coyote Records, 2016) is a free-flowing fresco in which she masterfully spins a captivating web of songs. The artist received several awards for this album, including the Prix Rapsat-Lelièvre in 2017, the Prix de la chanson SOCAN, four Félix Awards at the Gala de l’ADISQ in 2017 (Critics’ Choice Album of the Year, Alternative Album of the Year, Singer-Songwriter of the Year, Record Producer of the Year). It also landed her a spot on the Long List for the Polaris Music Prize, and in 2018, she was crowned Female Artist of the Year at the Gala de l’ADISQ. 

The beautifully crafted tracks of her third LP, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, work as a whole to create a musical and literal metaphor. The album took over six months to record, with the artist working in various studios (Studio B-12, CBC/Radio-Canada’s Studio 12, Wild Studio, Studio du Deuxième and Avion Tournevis’s studio). The tracks were mixed by Pierre Girard and mastered by Richard Addison with Klô Pelgag and Sylvain Deschamps co-producing the album. Klô took on the task of creating her very first string and brass arrangements for “La maison jaune,” “Umami” and “Où vas-tu quand tu dors,” while renowned composer Owen Pallet is credited for the string arrangements for “À l’ombre des cyprès” and “J’aurais les cheveux longs,” and the brass arrangements for “Soleil.” Klô Pelgag composed the lyrics and music for all tracks on the album. Working closely with Étienne Dupré (bass, synth, guitar), François Zaïdan (guitar, synth), Pete Pételle (drums, percussion, pinocle), Sylvain Deschamps (guitar, synth) and Vincent Lauzer (recorder), Klô Pelgag (piano, vocals, synth, sampling) has carefully crafted an outstanding masterpiece mosaic of sounds that come together like a phoenix from the ashes. A boundless musical universe, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs is quite possibly Klô Pelgag’s most transparent and personal album to date.  

And in this space where light pierces the darkness, Klô Pelgag unleashes the full power of her creativity. Although seemingly unlikely at first, her creations leave her audiences’ jaws on the floor in wonder and admiration. 

MORE ABOUT NOTRE-DAME-DES-SEPT-DOULEURS (OUTSIDE QUEBEC) 

As of April 14, 2021, the album Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs has been streamed nearly 3 million times, is #1 on the Quebec charts and #2 in Canada in its first week, and has garnered rave reviews in the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe. The influential American journalist Anthony Fantano reviewed the album on his YouTube channel The Needle Drop, an unprecedented achievement for a francophone album. “There are tons of beautiful, creative highlights on every corner of this project.” The song “La maison jaune” appeared in the American Netflix series Snowpiercer in March. We also launched a radio campaign in the United States despite the language barrier, and the album reached #56 on the NACC Chart Top 200, the highest position for a non-anglophone album. We also had articles in Atwood Magazine, Earworm, and 34st. In France, Télérama awarded the album four fortes (the equivalent of five stars), while FrancoFans and Longueur d’ondes commended the artist’s originality and the album’s emotionally charged atmosphere. Several other French media outlets also covered the album release, including Rolling Stone France, Tsugi Magazine, Libération, Radio Europe 1, Brain, General POP, La Face B, RFI Musique, Rock’N’Fool, and others. Excerpts were presented on France Inter, FIP Radio, Alternantes, Arvene, Panik, Europe 1 Musique, and others. France Inter radio shows “Le nouveau rendez-vous” and “Côté club” are both looking forward to hosting a live performance by Klô Pelgag when public health restrictions will allow it. In Belgium and Switzerland, we’ve had coverage from Le Temps, Ron Orp Normandie, Kanal K, RTS La Première, Le Soir, and Tabernak! The pandemic obviously slowed down the success we were having with the album in France. 

In Canada, Exclaim! gave the album four stars, and we had coverage from CBC Music and several others. Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs was nominated for the JUNO Awards in the category “Francophone Album of the Year” and won for “Album Artwork of the Year” – The artist offered an incredible virtual performance during the 2021 annual gala. It’s also on the Polaris 2021 short list. 

The album ended up on several important playlists: Spotify — Nouveautés de la Semaine Canada (31K likes), New Music Daily, À Gauche, Franco Pop, On Our Radar, Apple Music — New Music Daily, Nouveau franco, Amazon Music — Pause Café, Folk alternatif, Travailler en musique, YouTube Music — Francophone Hotlist, Francophone Wave. There’s also a Strong vinyl demand in the USA, with orders coming from key indie record shops such as Amoeba, Music Millennium, Silver Platters, and Waterloo. 

 The singer-songwriter had performed a virtual concert on April 2021 to present VIVRE – Le spectacle spectral. It is now available on iTunes and Apple TV.

AWARDS

2022 – Gala de l’ADISQ – Show of the Year
– Nomination – Female Performer of the Year
– Nomination – Artist with the most international exposure
2021 – Gala de l’ADISQ – Award Winner
– Songwriter of the Year
– Online show of the year – Francophone, Vivre: Le spectacle Spectral
– Album of the Year – Alternative, Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
– Album of the Year – Critics’ Choice, NDD7D
– International collaboration of the year for the song “Sorcière” with Pomme
– Video of the year, Mélamine
– Nomination – Female Performer of the Year
– Nomination – Artist of the Year with the most influence outside Quebec
2021 – Gala de l’ADISQ (industry) – Award Winners
– Arrangement of the Year, NDD7D (Klô Pelgag and Owen Pallett)
– Stage direction and set design of the year, Vivre: Le spectacle Spectral (Laurence Baz Morais)
– Album cover of the year, NDD7D (Julien Hébert, David Beauchemin, Marc-Étienne Mongrain and Florence Obrech)
– Sound recording and mixing of the year, NDD7D (Sylvain Deschamps and Pierre Girard)
– Script of the year, Vivre: Le spectacle Spectral (Klô Pelgag)
– Sound of the year, Vivre: Le spectacle Spectral (Pierre Girard and Rami Renno)
– Recording of the Year, NDD7D (Sylvain Deschamps and Klô Pelgag)
– Nomination – Lighting design and projections of the year, Vivre: le spectacle Spectral (Arnaud Belley-Ferris)
2021 – Polaris Music Prize – Shortlist for Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
2021 – Slaight Music Award – Nomination – Emerging Songwriter
2021 – Juno Award – Francophone Album of the Year & Album Cover of the Year
2020 – CBC – Top 20 Canadian Albums of 2020 for Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs
2019 – Gold Trille Award in the category Export Quebec
2018 – Gala de l’ADISQ – Female Artist of the Year
2017 – Gala de l’ADISQ – Album of the Year – Alternative
– Album of the Year – Critics’ Choice
– Record producer of the year (Sylvain Deschamps, Mathieu Pelletier-Gagnon, Klô Pelgag)
– Songwriter of the year
2017 – SOCAN Song Award, Les Ferrofluides-fleurs
2017 – Polaris Prize – Long list, L’Étoile thoracique
2017 – Félix-Leclerc Award
2017 – Rapsat-Lelièvre Prize
2016 – Indie Acoustic Project Award – Multi-genre category
2015 – Gala ADISQ – Nomination – Quebec artist having been the most successful outside Quebec
2015 – Gala des Prix Trille Or – Nomination
2015 – Barbara Award
2015 – Juno Award – Nomination
2014 – SOCAN Revelation of the Year
2014 – ADISQ Revelation of the Year
2014 – Grand Prix Francophonie of the Académie Charles Cros
2014 – GAMIQ – 2 awards – L’Alchimie des monstres
2014 – GAMIQ – 7 nominations – L’Alchimie des monstres
2014 – Gala de l’ADISQ – 4 nominations – L’Alchimie des monstres
2014 – Winner of the Grand Prix LOJIQ
2014 – Revelation chanson Radio-Canada
2014 – Charles Cros Prize for New French Song – Nomination
2014 – Coup de coeur francophone de l’Académie Charles Cros
2014 – Finalist for the Prix de la chanson SOCAN for “La fièvre des fleurs
2014 – Finalist for “Best CDs of 2013” at the Indie Acoustic Project
2014 – Finalist for the Félix-Leclerc Song of the Year Award
2014 – MaxFACT grant for the production of the video ” Les Corbeaux “.
2013 – Winner of the European Broadcasters Award and the Cirque du Soleil Award at the Bourse RIDEAU
2012 – Winner of the Prix Miroir at the Festival d’été de Québec
2011 – Finalist and winner of five awards at the Festival international de la chanson de Granby
2011 – Georges Dor Prize (Sing in French

HIGHLIGHTS

Les Francos de Montréal, le Grand spectacle de la Fête nationale, le Spectacle télévisé de la Fête du Canada à Ottawa, Grand théâtre de Québec, Théâtre Granada de Sherbrooke, Festival les petits cousins d’Amérique de Loudun, Festival Jacques Brel de Lure, Festival des Montgolfières de Gatineau, Brussel Summer Festival de Bruxelles, Osheaga de Montréal, Le Trianon de Paris, Maison de la poésie de Paris, Coup de coeur francophone de Montréal, Centre national des Arts d’Ottawa, Francofolies de Spa, Francofolies de La Rochelle, Festivoix de Trois-Rivières, Festival d’été de Québec, Pully-Lavaux à l’heure du Québec, Printemps de Bourges, Sukiyaki Meets the World, etc.