Introducing Yael Naim & David Donatien who release New Soul on March 24 through Atlantic Records. The single is taken from the album Yael Naim, which follows on March 31.New Soul currently features on the new Macbook Air advert, and has been making a strong impact across the globe. The song is number 1 in the US iTunes singles chart, and in Yaels native France, the song has top 5 airplay. New Soul is already available on itunes in the UK, and has climbed to No. 32 on iTunes singles chart. Originally released on the celebrated Tôt ou Tard label in France, Yael Naim is a stunning collection of songs in English, French and Hebrew that showcase Yaels disarmingly pure voice. The album has already sold in excess of 200, 000 copies in France.Born in 1978 in Paris, Yael spent a large part of her childhood in Ramat Hacharon, a small town near Tel Aviv. Her Tunisian parents moved there when she was four years old. I remember there was a little organ which Id tap my fingers on all the time. My interest in the instrument was so obvious, one day I got home from school and there was a real piano in my bedroom, - ten years of classical piano lessons duly followed. At home my father would play his Beatles records, and thats how I discovered Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road, aged 12. Its also when I forgot my classical ambitions. With adolescence she discovered Aretha Franklin, and also came across a Joni Mitchell record, which inspired Yael to challenge herself even further when writing her own lyrics. Even two years of military service, which Israeli women are obliged to do, didnt stop her musical journey. After all these years everything was a bit chaotic inside. My classical education, my love of pop, the jazz, the folk... I didnt know how to bring it all together, but I knew I wanted to write songs. In 2000 Yael returned to France, and met multi-instrumentalist David Donatien four years later, with whom she went on to arrange and record her songs in a small studio in her Paris apartment. These sessions resulted in the 13 tracks that make up Yael Naim. The album explores Yaels happy (Endless Song of Happiness) and melancholic (Paris, Lonely) existence, whilst other tracks, such as Yashanti or Lachlom, delve into dreams. Baboker bathes in the serenity found at the break of day, whilst Shelcha looks at a love without a future. The album also includes a unique and moving version of Britney Spears Toxic the choice of cover within such a worldy and cross-cultural record is a fitting example of Yaels incredible artistic dexterity.
Yael Naim