By Cheryl Demas on Saturday, 3rd December 2011 at 11:00 am
In the last couple weeks, we asked you to vote for the top 10 artists you thought would be big in 2012. She may be the lone single woman on this top 10 but you voted this act into 8th position…
Cambridge graduate Kyla La Grange’s songs have been coming slow and steady. She has released nearly an album’s worth of torchy, compelling songs this year with singles dropping every few months – ‘Walk Through Walls’ in March, ‘Been Better’ in July and the most recent double A-side ‘Heavy Stone’ (watch the video at the end of this post)/’Lambs’ (the latter of which was our MP3 of the Day here) in October. Even the free CD in July’s issue of Mojo included an alternate version of ‘Walk Through Walls’ produced by Ian Grimble and Kev Jones of Communion.
While she is entering a race already crowded with high caliber female singers, this dusky voiced beauty deserves every drop of attention she is getting right now. Although she is just a wisp of a girl, her voice has a darkness and a power to it is quite a juxtaposition to her appearance. Written up by the likes of the Guardian, Vogue and Glamour, La Grange is a complete package on her own, despite the inevitable comparisons to Marianne Faithful and Stevie Nicks. Of South African and Zimbabwean parentage, La Grange grew up in London and it is here that she is honing her indie folk/rock sound at places like the Notting Hill Arts Club and Hoxton Bar and Grill.
A few headline gigs and a string of support dates with the Guillemots rounds out La Grange’s 2011. After creating buzz for her music, she will retreat into the studio to complete her first album, with a release slated for 2012. With a swirling howl, she exclaims from her song ‘Been Better’, “I’ve been better with the things I said, when I took the lead instead of being led”. I’m happy to let her take the lead and show us where she is going.
By Mary Chang on Tuesday, 23rd August 2011 at 10:00 am
Kyla La Grange‘s song ‘You Let It Go’ has been remixed by Manchester electropop band the Kill Van Kulls, and the result is quite intriguing. I’m really liking this. Have a listen to it and download it below.
By John Fernandez on Thursday, 28th July 2011 at 12:00 pm
‘Been Better’ starts like the opener to any Editors song and that’s hardly a bad thing, the guitar riff is catchy and gets you into that lively kinda mood, then in comes Kyla La Grange’s voice and you can begin to realise why her name is circling the blogosphere like crazy at the moment. Watford born La Grange was educated in Cambridge University and has now turned her formidable talents to the world of music, to our fortune.
‘Been Better’ is her new single and comes out with a stomping rhythm that builds to an intense crescendo, with a mash up of infectious beats, hauntingly beautiful vocals and a juddering piano. It’s catchy; you can’t deny that, with its brisk changes of pace combined with quick-fire guitars, plus the chorus will stick in your head and still manage to give you Goosebumps every time you play it.
The female singer songwriter genre is beginning to look crowded though, you’ve got your Adeles , Robyns, Florences and Marlings, so Kyla is entering onto a market which is already chocked to the brim with talent. Whether she is bringing something quintessentially new and ground-breaking is debatable but there is no doubt that with tracks like ‘Been Better’ in the catalogue she will definitely make some inroads. Overall a cracking debut from a talented young woman, destined for bigger things.
Music lover? Car lover? No worries! Ford has combined the both for you. Bands In Transit is a new project in which bands perform impromptu gigs, ferried to various locations by a Ford Transit. We have here Bear’s Den performing ‘Stubborn Beast’ and Kyla La Grange (pictured above) playing ‘Been Better’ at Hackney City Farm. Watch the live videos below. For more great live videos of a similar vein, visit Bands in Transit’s official Web site. Also on the Web site is an 8-minute documentary about London’s celebrated indie label Communion Records, whose artists Pete Roe and Nathaniel Rateliff (just to name two) TGTF has featured in the past.
This Web site uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left-hand side.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this Web site you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This Web site uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our Web site.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
Cookie Policy
Read more on the information we collect from visitors to TGTF in our Privacy Policy.
