Hooverphonic

What preceded: Hooverphonic entered the Belgian airwaves in 1996 with the album A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular. Single '2 Wicky' was immediately picked up by director Bernardo Bertolucci for his film Stealing Beauty. It is the beginning of an international success story, to which Hooverphonic adds an extra chapter with every new release. When the group celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006 with the best-of Singles 96-06, CD sales exceeded one million copies. A year after the release of their seventh long player, The President of the LSD Golf Club (2007), the most experimental album of their discography, singer Geike Arnaert decides to concentrate on a solo career. Alex Callier and Raymond Geerts, the driving forces behind the band, start a search for a new singer.

The rest is history: The ideal candidate must meet four requirements: a unique voice, character, fitting in well with the group, being able to reinterpret the back catalogue. More than 1000 candidates from all over the world take their chance. One girl stood out: Noémie Wolfs. Originating from Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, with virtually no musical background.

Raymond Geerts: 'He's cheating!' (His first thought when he hears the demo)

Alex Callier: 'How much autotune does that require? recently arrived?' (The first question that comes to his mind after listening to the songs)

Noémie Wolfs: 'Jerk!' (Her first reaction when Alex Callier her after a few months of radio silence calls with the good news)

The group immediately starts recording a new album. The intention is simple: back to the roots of Hooverphonic. There is enough material. There are a few old songs that never used to be 'finished' but now, thanks to the new singer, they can be recorded effortlessly ('Anger Never Dies', 'Danger Zone'). And a lot of new songs were created during jam sessions between Callier and Geerts (title song 'The Night Before', 'How Can You Sleep' and 'One, Two, Three'). 'Identical Twin' is a new fruit of the collaboration between Callier and Cathy Denis, which previously produced hits such as 'Jackie Cane' (2001) and 'The Last Thing I Need Is You' (2003).

< p>The sources of inspiration remain as great as ever: with its rich orchestration, The Night Before echoes the best of Burt Bacharach, Ennio Morricone and John Barry, and yet sounds unmistakably like Hooverphonic. They leave a judgment about the result to the experts. They are sufficiently convinced of it themselves.

Noémie Wolfs: 'Raymond is probably a year older than my father.'

Raymond Geerts: 'I would have told Alex like this: let's take a dwarf of 75 years old. Then I will no longer be the smallest and no longer the oldest in the band.'

Alex Callier: 'I have the pleasant feeling that with Noémie we will go further than was previously possible.'