From his label, Labelgum:

‘I like to try things I haven’t yet mastered’.

Ambroise Willaume knows himself well. In these few words, he sums up what seems to be the exceptional force behind his career to date: a young man constantly looking for the fresh and original, a rejection of all that is repetition. Creating the group Revolver, after years of singing in classical choirs, he discovered the unequivocal pop universe. The band is currently on a break after two critically acclaimed albums and hundreds of concerts performed in France and worldwide.

Now a solo artist at the helm of his piano and several electronic machines, he has evolved. Under the pseudonym SAGE, derived from Sagittarius, he brings us a brand new repertoire, that reaches an even higher dimension, with unexpected arrangements, jumping between classical and digital genres. His first EP came out at the end of 2014 and was co-produced by himself and Benjamin Lebeau, one of the infamous halves of French musical duo The Shoes, who he had met whilst collaborating on Woodkid’s album. If they hardly knew each other then, they knew at least that the other’s artistic approach would be a unique opportunity to play around with opposing musical atmospheres as well as unlearning everything else they had done up until now.

SAGE’s compositions have the instant charm of a pop song and the collaboration with Benjamin takes them to a whole new level, combining traditional song-writing with a futurist production ethic.

In 2015, Ambroise returned to the studio along-side Benjamin. ‘We wanted to create a new sound, something with strong contrasts without of course the production taking over the original songs’. After several months in closed confinement, the debut eponymous album SAGE is here: ten sophisticated tracks, glowing with the exchange of alternative sounds and elegant melodies.

The album opens with “One Last Star”, probably the most intense song encapsulating hypnotic beats and soaring vocals. A little later the mesmerizing modern ballad “Only Children” comes, and then things pick up pace with song “August in Paris”, it’s rich rhythmic qualities throw us forward into the summer, and talks about feelings of exclusion in one’s home town. “Time Never Lies” leads the softer note of the second half of the album with the intimate solo recordings of Ambroise at his piano. The album comes to it’s cosmic finale with the complex “Focus” and finishes delicately with “Eyes Closed”.