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Madonna's Ray of Light spliced with Deepak Chopra's celebrity-studded Gift of Love disc is perhaps the commercial counterpart to Isabelle Pascale Granet's intriguingly erotic Sanctity. High-minded, deep-bodied, and soul-searching, spoken word flows forth in both English and French, combining with sensuously syncopated dance beats and lyrical chants. Granet's words are sultry and whispery, seducing the listener; proud and fiery, celebrating the sacredness of sex and spirit... Sanctity is darkly delicious, desirous, and dangerous to the powers who'd keep our passion under wraps. Be unafraid, Granet seems to say, explore the sanctity of your own vitality.
-- Paige La Grone, Editor
This is a SUPERB album. This is an album created by artists who are tapped into a level of awareness that is simply not prevalent in the mainstream music business, and certainly not the general public. I won't go into the typical describe-the-tracks-musically sort of review. Let it be said that the music is EXCELLENT, practically without flaw in my opinion. BUT, I recommend taking this album as an education, as medicine. This is an aural experience which will elevate your being. It's art that requires the listener to slow down, put the hustle bustle of the outside world into soft focus and really EXPERIENCE.
- - Eliza, San Francisco
Hidden gem of a CD...
Listening to Sanctity reminds me of Enigma's first two albums and a little bit of Delerium's 'Karma". Very sensuous and soothing to listen to. The music took my breathe away to say the very least. "In the Name of the Mother..." is a sumptuous delight for the ears. All the songs moved me but I was especially moved by "The Ghost of You", a gorgeous piano ballad... You have made a lifelong fan out of me.
- - Erica Anderson, Minneapolis
The CD just put me in a state!
It's mostly ambient, chillout, lounge type tracks with this incredible ethereal voice speaking.
Most are similar to Vanessa Daou, Moby, or Massive Attack. The track "Resurrect Me" reminds me very much of Enigma. For those of you who are Enigma fans, this group may pick up the torch where I personally feel Cretu left off. Other tracks of note are "Lines" and "The Revolution is Being Meditated". These have a certain avante-garde vibe to them, but they still manage to be very melodic and listenable. I found them to be trance-enducing. Again, I find the disc hard to pin down.....and totally irresistable. This is a rare treat - but hopefully a harbinger of what's to come......real quality music with deep meaning and a soul in the midst of big record label b.s.
- - Joel, Los Angeles
- Amazon.com
Discography
Sanctity (LP) 1999 College & Public Access Radio Airplay, Streaming
In the Name of the Mother... (LP) 2004 Public Access Radio Airplay & Streaming
Photos
Bio
SHORT BIO
French born songwriter-vocalist Isabelle Pascale Granet possesses a deep sensuality and edge rarely found among artists of our time. She is known for her lyrically frank and emotionally intense songs that tackle a wide range of subjects including sexuality, the sacred feminine, the patriarchy and transpersonal relationships. Her trademark is a simultaneously fierce and vulnerable vocal delivery.
Her first album was co-produced with Ben Arrindell, Grammy Award-Winning Mix Engineer who has worked with artists from Ladysmith to Aretha. The second release, a bit more dark and atmospheric, was co-produced by film composer and sound designer Paul Hsu. His composing credits include Sundance features and VH1/MTV documentaries. Paul has worked with filmmakers Jonathan Demme, Mike Nichols, Spike Lee and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys.
Hard to pin down, the albums cross genres - World, New Age, Downtempo, Dance, reminiscent of Massive Attack Portishead Enigma Vanessa Daou Delerium and Moby.
FULL BIO
French born songwriter-vocalist Isabelle Pascale Granet possesses a deep sensuality and edge rarely found among artists of our time. She is known for her lyrically frank and emotionally intense songs that tackle a wide range of subjects, including sexuality, the sacred feminine, the patriarchy and transpersonal relationships.
Isabelle emigrated to the United States at the age of 21. She promptly concluded her 2 years of English studies at the Sorbonne University and dance training at Paris Centre Studios in favor of moving to the US.
While living in Los Angeles and New York, she furthered her artistic studies in music (piano and composition) and dance (ballet, jazz, flamenco). The classical music training that she had received in France as a child molded her taste for the Medieval and Baroque period, evident in her use samples of ancient music (Hildegard Von Bingen and various 13th century women troubadours). From her teenage years in the late Coluche's entourage (France's legendary comedian-actor) she retained the lucidity and straightforwardness of her former peers which she shared with her audience a decade later in her performance art shows in NYC. These shows were spawned by an emotionally devastating turn of events in her personal life which opened a flood of creativity expressed unexpectedly through poetry and songs.
By the early '90s, Isabelle had garnered notoriety for her live shows on the New York Performance Art scene, where she often engaged in open and eccentric dialogue with the audience. She now favors performing her recording works in multimedia settings, involving video arts and choreography.
Her trademark is a simultaneously fierce and vulnerable vocal delivery. The focus is on the spoken word, increasing the emotional impact of the songs. The effect is an immediate feeling of intimacy like a lover whispering in your ear, invoking the most primal and subversive emotions.
Granet is also the author of three books of poetry, Her Lullaby For Your Soul(1997), The Heart Benjie(2000), and Words LIke Stars(2004). Alexandra Pope, acclaimed psychotherapist, educator and author of The Wild Genie says of Granet's writing: "I feel that we have the same kind of appreciation of the Feminine...the Feminine announcing herself as disturbance, feeling the edge, so much light and dark. There's something wild, alive and urgent in your writing. You have an insight, imagination and a provocative edge... keep speaking like that, it's so needed."
Isabelle's stage work as a performance artist had led her to experiment with the idea of interweaving her words with the music of others. This eventually spurred a need to develop her own musical expression.
After studying music composition with Duncan Lorien and meeting her two key collaborators Ben J. Arrindell and Paul Hsu at recording studios in NYC, the elements were in place to start her recording project which she named Sanctity. Sanctity debuted with the deeply sensuous and emotional album Sanctity (1999) followed by the dark, hauntingly beautiful In the Name of the Mother, the Daughter and the Holy Will (2005) a.k.a. ITNOTMATHW.
The first album was co-produced withBen J. Arrindell, Grammy Award-Winning Mix Engineer whose work with an array of artists from Ladysmith Black Mambazoo, Yolanda Adams and Luther Vandross to Busta Rhyme, Mary J Blige and Aretha Franklin, has topped the charts for over a decade now. Hard to pin down, the album crossed different genres - a medley of World, Trip-Hop, New Age, and Dance styles reminiscent of Enigma's MCMXC A.D., Vanessa Daou's Zipless, and Massive Attack's Protection albums.
Their co-writer/keyboard player Paul Hsu (who would 5 years later co-produce the second album) was instrumental in developing the unique alchemy of sound which characterizes this first record.
A concept album, Sanctity exposed the deep wounds of feminine sexuality while celebrating its fierce spirit and sacredness. Amazon.com's
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