ATLAS
London, England, United Kingdom | SELF
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ATLAS - Hunter
ATLAS, Sarah Hezen’s brainchild featured in Mr. Casson’s Prick and Ding 38 this very month and not surprisingly so. After the pulsating, trippy prologue, Sarah’s haunting, menacing vocals echo though your eardrums for the song’s entirety. An amazing vocal range is on display here, particularly towards the end of the track. The band have also featured as band of the week on Amazing Radio and the music video for Hunter has also graced the NME website no less. Need I say more? As Johnno says, it just makes so much more sense with the visuals to accompany the audio so I recommend you check it out here. - Fresh on the Net
Atlas is Sarah Hezen, a French bedroom producer and singer/songwriter, based in London.
I first heard Atlas on Paul Lester’s Amazing Radio show and was instantly smitten with the beautifully gentle @ heartreaching vocals backed by smart leftfield electronica that bleeps,trips & gurgles in all the right places.
My gut tells me Atlas will be breaking out of that bedroom & moving into living rooms over the next year – Your living rooms!!! – and as we all should – always trust the gut.
Sarah has only been performing as Atlas for a little over a year now (appearing live @ White Heat at Madame Jojo’s, Secret Garden Party & The Book Club)
She is currently working towards a new live show, alongside Alex Klein on double-bass and DJ and producer Beaton.
This promises to be a treat for ears & eyes with the next date in March at Richard Strange’s Cabaret Futura
Up to this moment I had only listened to the beautiful music of Atlas but I just caught sight of the captivating video of Hunter (below).
It was really great just to listen to Atlas but it makes even more sense with the visuals to accompany the audio.
The slightly eastern flavour of the music is beautifully matched with the mesmerising stage presence of Sarah.
As the name suggests – this feels like a worldwide thing.
Atlas are Bethan Elfyn‘s Artist of the week on Amazing Radio this week-nice one Bethan.
Why not take a little time to discover Atlas for yourself,there is much promise held within.
SOUNDCLOUD | YOUTUBE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER
1. What are you up to at the moment?
I’m preparing the new live show with Beaton. I’m also making a stage costume, a lot of organza, feathers and other child princess stuff are involved.
2. Favourite childhood memory?
My dad sat on my bed singing me a song on the guitar to wake me up.
3. Hero?
Jean Anouilh’s Antigone
4. Villain?
Patrick Bateman
5. What/who makes you laugh?
This and This
6. Describe what you do?
I tell stories, fairy-tale-like, intertwined with my personal experience, fears, awes, what it means to me to be a woman. It is immature, childish, and empowering to me at the same time. I want people to feel something intimate, specific to them when they listen to them.
7. Who’s hair would you like to have for just one day?
Brooke Candy’s. To swing it like a lasso the way she does. But just for one day…
8. Best musical experience to date
Last year at the O2 to see Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird. Totally mashed, he invited the audience to join him on stage. Around 20 people sneaked in. I managed my way up there, and I don’t know how it happened, I eventually ended up with the mike in my hand… Those who hadn’t been on the stage were so angry on Twitter… I had a great time!!!
9. What artist inspires you?
I know it will sound like a lack of inspiration but… Radiohead are just so great right? What I find the most inspiring with them is how they manage to renew their sound all the time. They never go for the obvious, never recycle, always provoke amazement in me.
10. What does Fresh On The Net mean to you?
It means a lot to me. It means someone believing in what I do. Thank you Johnno, from the bottom of my heart!
- Fresh on the Net
Here's some new music from a girl called ATLAS, you may recognise her voice as she recently collaborated with Jewellers on what has been one of my favourite songs of the entire year called Haze. It turns out her solo stuff is equally as beautiful - her latest song is called Vestal, it's a little different to what she normally does; stripped back acoustic and vocals, but it works so so well. She also has an EP coming out later this month which I'd most definitely encourage you to buy; for now go and stream Vestal below: - In Love Not Limbo
Here's some new music from a girl called ATLAS, you may recognise her voice as she recently collaborated with Jewellers on what has been one of my favourite songs of the entire year called Haze. It turns out her solo stuff is equally as beautiful - her latest song is called Vestal, it's a little different to what she normally does; stripped back acoustic and vocals, but it works so so well. She also has an EP coming out later this month which I'd most definitely encourage you to buy; for now go and stream Vestal below: - In Love Not Limbo
Having posted ATLAS’s debut track You yesterday, I checked back on bandcamp earlier today and found it had been updated, including a link to their Facebook page. From there, you can find their Soundcloud, which reveals ATLAS as the project of a certain Sarah Hezen from London. Anyway, enough detective work, new cut 5 To Midnight is a slightly less refined affair, seemingly rougher round the edges. There’s the delicate female vocals and dubstep inspired beats, rolling gloriously throughout the track in a menacing fashion yet it’s reassuringly realistic. Despite only having two tracks out so far, ATLAS is quickly becoming one of my favourite new artists, check out 5 To Midnight below. - Crack in the Road
Search the name ATLAS on Facebook and it’s like stepping back in time; you’re met with a host of mid-00's Blink-182 rock-pop bands, attempting to pedal their garage-recorded four track demo. Well fear not, for this cut from the UK’s very own ATLAS couldn’t be further removed from the muck and grime of sweaty lo-fi indie-pop. Whilst the first couple of minutes allude to ATLAS being a slightly niche, female fronted folk outfit, it’s not until You really kicks in that you feel the full force of the track. Obvious comparisons can be drawn to the likes of Massive Attack and Portishead, yet it’s the post-rock influence that intrigues me, with the tender sound of Meanwhile, Back In Communist Russia plastered all over You. Lose yourself. - Crack in the Road
Here's the brand new and quite spectacular video for ATLAS' latest single "Eat Me". Directed by Gabriella Sonabend.
The song's great and there's no doubt about it. It starts little bit slow at first but later it gets heavier to my personal delight. What impressed me the most with the video was the overall vision. At first I was blown away by it and I loved the transition from one character to another. All this looks really surreal. Love how ATLAS and Sonabend envisioned this really crazy fairytale. To sum it all everything about that video is... beautiful. Hopefully a debut release will follow. - Against the Odds
ATLAS is arguably one of the most talented artists I came across on the internet. That bizarre combination of trip-hop, dubstep and mesmerizing vocals immediately attracted my attention. Now ATLAS finally have a debut video for "You" which is really a piece or art. I don't know what else to say except that it's amazing! - Against the Odds
ATLAS is arguably one of the most talented artists I came across on the internet. That bizarre combination of trip-hop, dubstep and mesmerizing vocals immediately attracted my attention. Now ATLAS finally have a debut video for "You" which is really a piece or art. I don't know what else to say except that it's amazing! - Against the Odds
Mesmerizing vocals, gloomy dubstep, melancholic trip-hop are some of the stuff that makes ATLAS so appealing and awesome. The rest is up to you to discover. - Against the Odds
With all the music that passes through me it is very rare that I get impressed with something or by someone. This lady right here impressed me more than once. And she keep doing it. ATLAS' latest single "Carrousel" is nothing short of amazing. Hypnotic and sexy vocals and dark, melancholic electronica packed into four minutes of pure trip-hop bliss. Yes, I'm in love. And how could I not be when her latest song is so great? - Against the Odds
London trip hop duo ATLAS ooze sex from every pore, with new track Lullaby demonstrating this sublimely, as it’s intertwines intricately throughout it’s six and a half minutes. The instrumental sections are kept to a bare minimum, with a wooden sounding percussion section leading the track before collapsing in on itself around the four minute mark, into a deliriously wonderful mesh of disjointed beats. As with her two debut tracks, Lullaby showcases ATLAS’s vocals to exalted effect, as she flirts between spoken word and silky smooth chorus parts; “Your time is nigh, soon you will find, Another heart to crucify”. - Crack in the Road
The more I hear of London songstress ATLAS, the more I’m convinced that it’s simply a question of time before she explodes amongst the realms of the blogosphere. With her untouchably fragile vocals, yearning for understanding and a sense of belongng, Hunter may well be her most accomplished release to date. Again clocking in well over the six minute mark, it never ventures into tedium, in fact, once it finishes, one is left feeling slightly empty yet thoroughly enthralled. Check out Hunter below, and keep up with ATLAS via her Facebook page. - Crack in the Road
'Lullaby' by Atlas
Blending trip hop sounds and melancholic vocals, Atlas return with a beautifully mesmerizing track that is utterly absoring. - The 405
ATLAS – the project of French electronic music producer and singer Sarah Hezen – released a new video. The artist who is now based in London unveiled a video to her song Eat Me.
Enjoy the video here and fall in love with this amazing voice, wonderful music and beautiful woman. - Nothing But Hope and Passion
Discography
self-released Single
'Eat Me' (2012)
All those songs had/have regular Radio Air Play on Amazing Radio shows (Paul Lester, Mark Ryan's Amazing Beats, Beth Elfyn - featured as 'Artist of the Week' in January 2013, Dani Charlton, Mike Taylor, Charlie Ashcroft's Audition, Gary Crowley and Shell Zenner) as well on the main playlist since february 2013.
'Carrousel'
'Lullaby'
'5 to Midnight'
'You'
'Hunter'
Photos
Bio
It's during a school trip to England, when I was 15 (9 years ago... damn....) that a friend made me listen to Muse on her discman. I listened to 'Unintended' for the first time almost without breathing. It was my first musical awe experience, the one that made me start teaching myself the guitar to accompany the dark stories I'd been singing accapella for a year. Soon after, I discovered Radiohead. Karma Police. In my face, again.
I would secretly write and sing songs in my bedroom, as quiet as possible, terribly scared by the idea that someone could hear me.
Came my uni years. I don't know how it happened, but on my 19th birthday day I was on stage, for the first time. I had never felt this before. And normally people don't give a damn about someone singing with a guitar in a pub. Well they did.
That's when I realized that it was where I was meant to be.
At 20 I discovered Triphop. Massive Attack, Tricky, Unkle, Archive... Then when I moved to London, 2 years ago, it was Four Tet, Venetian Snares, Burial. I would obsessively listen to them again and again, dissecting their sound, trying to figure out how the hell did they do it. I lost interest in my guitar, swapping it for a computer. I created ATLAS.
Songs for me became like living beings. It needed a heart - the beat, a backbone - the bass, and a voice - mine. It needed me to give birth to them, as much as my guts needed me to do it. Writing and making songs was, and still is, this crucifying and amazing process, without which I can't be happy. I have those made-up stories in my head, those dark tales where I intertwine my own fears, my awe, my catharsis, with elements of fairy tales, mythology, those violent childhood stories which had always fascinated me. It is a realm of contrasts, contradictions: a bassy and violent sound, electronic and cold, juxtaposed with the human melancholy of distant strings. An eerie and fragile voice, muttering words of madness, in the shape of a bed-time story. "Your time is nigh, soon you will find, another heart to crucify' (Lullaby)
I am a storyteller before anything else. On stage, my voice, my body, become the means of expression of those tales. I need to sing to express them, I need to dance, to look at you in the eyes and hope you'll see what I mean.
On stage I wear a costume, some make-up, I project some visuals which are another medium of expression of those songs. I am a different person, a character that doesn't really exist for anything else but to tell stories. Who would do it otherwise?
But I'm not doing it alone. Exclusively for the live performance, I am joined by Alex Klein, a classically-trained French double-bass player, as well Andrew Beaton, a British Producer, Composer and DJ. The three of us work together, to tell stories and reach people.
Band Members
Links
