Prog Metal Act LALU Signs With Frontiers; Paint The Sky Album Feat. Vocalist DAMIAN WILSON On The Way

April 6, 2021, 3 years ago

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Prog Metal Act LALU Signs With Frontiers; Paint The Sky Album Feat. Vocalist DAMIAN WILSON On The Way

Frontiers Music Srl announces the signing of the progressive metal act Lalu to the label for a multi-album deal. Lalu is a musical project originally founded in 2004 by the French composer and producer Vivien Lalu, son of Noelle and Michel Lalu (members of the ‘70s French progressive act Polène). Paint The Sky will be the first album, and third album overall from the band, released under the new partnership between Vivien and Frontiers. It is easily the most accomplished and mature album put together by Vivien thus far in his career.

Being the son of two progressive musicians from the '70s and growing up surrounded by progressive music, Vivien always wanted to craft a true-to-its-roots progressive rock album. He spent a lot of time laying down the basics for the new effort and along with this new album comes a change in vocalist specifically designed for this more progressive version of Lalu. In May 2020, Vivien announced Damian Wilson (Arena, Headspace, Threshold) as the lead vocalist for Paint The Sky.

Lalu's lineup on the album is rounded out by Jelly Caldarelli (on drums) and Joop Wolters (guitars and bass). More special guests will be announced in the coming months, so be sure to follow Lalu's social media to stay up-to-date.  

Lalu's first full-length album, Oniric Metal garnered critical acclaim upon its release, and marked a new chapter for Vivien and his insatiable need to create mind-expanding, cinematic music.

After collaborating with Shadow Gallery on Digital Ghosts, working with Lazlo Jones on his debut album, and the original soundtrack of Warner Bros. movie Seuls Two, Lalu finally settled in and began work on the second Lalu opus, Atomic Ark. Handling all composition and songwriting duties, as well as all keyboards, Lalu weaved the cloth of the new album together with vocalist Martin LeMar, bassist Mike LePond (Symphony X), guitarist Simone Mularoni (DGM), and world class drummer Virgil Donati (Planet X, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth). The album was produced by Vivien in his own studio and mixed at Boumbox Studio in Paris by Yan Memmi (Dio ‘Lock Up The Wolves’). Additional contributions came from Jens Johansson (Stratovarius), Joop Wolters, Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater), Marco Sfogli (James LaBrie), Mike Andersson (Cloudscape) and Peter Wildoer (James LaBrie). The final product, boasting over fifty minutes of exceptional, massive cinematic, atmospheric metal was dubbed Atomic Ark. The album was released worldwide in 2013.

Spring 2014 saw Vivien venturing out on a unique live tour, hosting only a few select shows featuring the all-star Atomic Ark line-up of Martin LeMar, Mike LePond, Simone Mularoni, and Virgil Donati, adding Joop Wolters as a second guitarist on stage. After a few weeks’ practice, the tour culminated in the live recording of their set during the final stop. Produced by Vivien and mixed and mastered by Simone Mularoni at Domination Studio, the digital only Live at P60 was released in June 2015.


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