Kenyon (4)

Kenyon is the solo project of Pierre Laplace, a French musician who also was the voice of cult band Vera Clouzot for 10 years. In 2001, while he was still working with Vera Clouzot, and singing in French for the band, Pierre started writing songs in English for himself; this gave him the opportunity to express himself in both languages, and was in some way a "back-to-where-I-belong" kind of thing : using his acoustic guitar as a basis for the songs and singing in English again, Pierre expressed his love of "songwriting" as it was, or is, practised by the likes of Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, Townes Van Zandt, Mark Kozelek, Will Oldham or Mark Eitzel, to name but a few. In October 2001, Pierre started working on a first solo album, "Haunted". Basic tracks were recorded at Studio KA in Faches-Thumesnil; then additional instruments were recorded at Jean-Bernard Hosteâ??s home studio in Lille. Jean-Bernard (aka Jan Stého) produced and mixed the album. "Haunted" contains 11 tracks of folk/pop/country songwriting, with the odd touch of jazz, rock and electro here and there. Various friends and musicians play on the record : Nicolas Fahy (member of Vera Clouzot) on the cello, Julien Biget on the banjo, Mr Pher on trumpet, and Norwegian friend Reidun Mork for a duet on "Drag On". Jean-Bernard Hoste played several instruments, did some programming, and helped out with the samples. Since 2001, Kenyon has played in various French venues, doing support slots with Joseph Arthur (Grand Mix, Tourcoing), Johan Asherton (Biplan, Lille, and 4 Ecluses, Dunkerque), Zop Hopop (Cave aux Poètes, Roubaix), and Minor Majority + Azure Ray (Guinguette Pirate, Paris). Kenyon is Pierre Laplace's solo project. Living in Lille, this songwriter, who has been the voice of Vera Clouzot for ten years, has just released his first solo album: 11 tracks mixing genres, folk, pop, country with sprinkles of electro and jazz here and there. The CD was produced by Jean-Bernard Hoste aka Jan Steho. Besides Jan, who played several instruments, you can find in the guestlist such players as Nicolas Fahy from Vera Clouzot on the cello, Pher on the trumpet, Julien Biget on the banjo, and Norwegian singer Reidun Mork for a duet. On stage, Pierre is alone, accompanying himself with a guitar and a sampler, and he is joined on some tracks by Ambroise Yon on keys. Kenyon has played in various venues in the north of France and in Paris: he was the support for Joseph Arthur (Grand Mix, Tourcoing), Johan Asherton (Biplan, Lille), Scapin (La Scène, Paris) and was the main act in the K13(Lille), Cactus Café (Hesdin), and in the Summer International Festival in Arendal, Norway. Kenyon gets his inspiration from the likes of Mark Eitzel, Mark Kozelek, Nick Drake or Tim Buckley.