L’Étrangleuse

For the last ten years, Mélanie Virot and Maël Salètes have combined the pedal harp and the elec-
tric guitar to create the music of L’Étrangleuse, drawing inspiration from the traditional music of a

country that doesn’t exist.

Tirelessly trapping the magic of almost nothing with two instruments that per se seem to have no-
thing in common, they increasingly tour in unexpected places. From this confrontation, a sort of

chamber post-rock has emerged, a contemplative punk hymn to African music from the Arctic circle,
a modal soundtrack and outwith the modes of a long waking dream.
Seven years after their first album and three years after “Memories To Come” (produced by John
Parish), the duo has conceived a third disc, “Dans Le Lieu Du Non-Où” (“In The Place Of No-Where”),
completely sung in French and recorded at home. From dances of enchantment to end-of-the-world
ballads, their new repertoire gives pride of place to the rotations of the jeli n’goni (Malian lute), while
the harp borrows saturation and breaks from the electric guitar. The raw and natural sound offers a
total immersion in what the group generates best on stage, where the duo is now accompanied by a
percussionist.