Halo Maud

Playing a mix of prog, psych, and trance-like indie pop while displaying the influence of artists such as Björk, Blonde Redhead, and Broadcast, French artist Halo Maud began making music in the mid-2010s and eventually released her debut album in 2018 on Heavenly Records. After a short break, and after singing on the Chemical Brothers' 2023 album For That Beautiful Feeling, Halo Maud returned with 2024's Celebrate, an artistically challenging, yet still very poppy, second album.

Halo Maud is the creation of Maud Nadal, who grew up in rural France then moved to Paris, where she got her start in music during the early 2010s playing guitar and singing in like-minded psychedelic bands Melody's Echo Chamber and Moodoïd. She appeared on several albums with the latter band, then struck out on her own under the name Halo Maud in the mid-2010s. The first appearance on record by the project was a self-released three-song single "Du Pouvoir/Power" in early 2017, and then on one side of a split single with the band O later that year for the La Souterraine Magic Vinyle Club. Helping Nadal on the songs were producer Robin Leduc and a trio of drummers. The "Du Pouvoir/Power" single garnered attention from Heavenly Recordings and they reissued the single in 2018. Nadal had already begun recording the first Halo Maud album by then with the help of Leduc, her Moodoïd bandmate Pablo Padovani, Benjamin Glibert from Aquaserge, and members of her live band -- Olivier Marguerit, Stéphane Bellity, and Vincent Mougel. Nadal wrote and sang all the songs and added guitars, bass, keys, and other instruments. The sound the assembled musicians came up with nods to the proggy past, French pop, and the slick modern psych of bands like Stereolab, while displaying Nadal's hypnotic voice in front where it should be. Je Suis Une Île was released by Heavenly in May of 2018. After touring in 2019, Nadal began work on a second Halo Maud album with a wide range of collaborators, including Flavien Berger and Deerhoof's Greg Saunier, who co-produced many of the tracks. In 2022, Nadal released the Pesnopoïka EP, which featured a heavy Bulgarian folk influence, and early the next year she appeared as a featured vocalist on many of the tracks on the Chemical Brothers' For That Beautiful Feeling album. A few months after its release, and after many advance tracks had set the stage, the long-awaited second Halo Maud album was issued in March of 2024. Featuring a heady, more textured, and sonically adventurous musical approach, Celebrate veered from chunky psychedelic rock to trilling avant-garde pop with barely a breath in between. Soon after, Halo Maud set off on a short tour supporting fellow musical traveler Jane Weaver. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi