Biography
South Wales singer-songwriter Volenté grew up in a musical family in South Africa. Her late father was an accomplished violinist and pianist; and her mother an accomplished pianist herself. Volenté performed soprano solos at school from an early age and was a keen member of school and church choirs. Her first foray into modern music was aged 17, when she joined a 9-piece- avant-garde metal rock band named “Stalin”. They performed in and around South Africa, culminating in a 10-day performance at the National Grahamstown Arts Festival, the biggest annual celebration of the arts on the whole of the African continent.
Having relocated to London in the early 1990s, Volenté plied her trade as a session singer, working out of the famous Berwick Street Studio, whose other previous luminaries included The Specials, The Sex Pistols, The Chemical Brothers, David Bowie and Depeche Mode. Moving on to Wales in her early 20s, Volenté soon immersed herself in the local Cardiff scene, regularly appearing with musicians in various styles, showcasing her versatile vocals, including MC’ing with Ninjah & Jah Scouse, Egyptian Moroccan folk with Phil Moxham (Young Marble Giants/Everything But The Girl), ‘High Life’ fusion session band, Reggae – touring with a Bob Marley tribute band, appeared on the award winning ‘Mr Blaidd’ album by quirky Welsh indie/hip-hop merchant MC Mabon and featured and as a member of alt-indie-country gig-mad scenesters JT Mouse, amongst many others.
During this time Volenté, as a member of trip-hop band The Sentiment, trawled London’s record labels for a deal. Not willing to take ‘no’ for an answer she was offered a multi-million pound deal by a major record label. She forego the chance to don hot pants and sing euro-pop for the next ten years and decided to stick to original music which she is best at.
Having set up Cardiff’s Dockrad Records in 2001 with her former business partner, Volenté’s first release on the label was as part of trip-hoppers ‘Maniana’ on the ‘Double Eyedrops’ EP. Described as “hypnotic alternative electro-blues anthems with coffee table undertones” the EP was critically acclaimed, and the band played to enthusiastic audiences around the UK in 2002.
Deciding to make a mark under her own name, Volenté released her first album entitled “Cold Clean” in 2004. The track “Bag of Chips” from the album was used as the soundtrack to the 2004 National Eisteddfod of Wales' BBC TV trailer. Critics loved the album and said it was:
“Crammed with flair and talent” South Wales Argus
“continually combines minimalism and lushness” Sound Nation
“Full of wide-eyed wonderment...wonderfully strange tunes” Logo Magazine
“A unique style...definitely worth a listen if you’re open-minded about your music” Big Issue
Volenté recruited a band and soon the seven-piece played in and around Wales, Liverpool and
London, further establishing her live credentials.
Whilst pregnant with her second child, Volenté recorded her second album, ‘Butterflies Fall Away’, but had to wait
a while to release and tour the album! Again, all written, produced, arranged and performed by Volenté herself,
her beautiful haunting vocals were said to: “emulate Kate Bush at her most dramatic” and she was compared by
critics to the likes of Bjork, cult indie favourites the Sundays and Lambchop. Volenté performed live at the Wales
Millennium Centre, as a launch for the album and was chosen as one of the Top Ten Albums of the year by BBC
Radio Wales’ Jason Camillieri, presenter of the “Mixing It” show.
Having returned from living in Canada where she regularly performed for the British Columbia Songwriters and Alberta
Arts Associations, Volenté released her single and video, ‘Hollow’. ‘Hollow’ represented a slight change in direction for
the singer-songwriter: “Even though I really enjoy singing and playing the guitar, I have always had a passionate love of drum and bass and more latterly dubstep,
and have incorporated some of those elements into this single, whilst keeping to my own unique style” she says. Volenté has, in recent years, appeared as a
featured guest vocalist on various singles for electro-dance outfit ‘Nursery of Naughtiness’ who count The Prodigy as some of their admirers.
Following on from her 2012 return to form with her Hollow single, described as:-
“an enigma with a haunting sound that will stay with you for hours after the song has finished playing” purplerevolver.com
“a curiously chilling aura that’s more than captivating” indiemusicnews.info
“genuinely unique. Where has this girl been hiding? Incredible” musiceyz.co.uk.
South Wales singer-songwriter Volenté then released a trio of tracks called ‘Broken Promises’ in 2013, seeing her further develop her electronic credentials. When she isn’t spending her time being a full-time mum, Volenté is an extremely talented artist, with many years of experience within the music industry. These tracks are a curious fusion of drum ’n bass, jungle, electronica, classical music and R ‘n’ B, with the heavy element of dubstep thrown in for good measure. “a breath of fresh air for those who want to get past the mainstream electronic R’n'B genre of recent times and listen to something a little bit different” samueljsaunders.co.uk
Broken promises is a brutally honest bittersweet anthem with soaring operatic vocals, a fusion of classical music, electronic guitar, drum ‘n bass beats and some dubstep thrown in the mix.
The second track, ‘So Many Times’ is an electro-ballad which showcases Volenté’s stunning vocal range with a hint of Massive Attack-like elements. With her effortless amazing vocal range, this track really showcases Volente’s ability to create totally unique songs, while remaining true to her own style. A minimal but very powerful track!
End of Time’s beats and vocals hit the listener like an arrow to a target! With industrial-like hooks, a heavy sub-bass, a bit of jungle and Volenté’s mesmerising, beautiful, haunting vocals will take you to another level. This track is definitely one set for the dance floor!
Compared by critics to the likes of Bjork, cult indie favourites the Sundays and Kate Bush, ‘Broken Promises’, once again all produced, written, arranged and performed by Volenté herself, represents Volenté at her best!
Record Label Boss, Exhibited Multimedia Artist, Graphic Designer, Photographer and full -time mum, Volenté is an enigma.
Touch is the third album by genre-blending Welsh singer-songwriter Volenté. Combining multi-layered ethereal electronic sounds with bitter-sweet vocal delivery, Volenté is unique, as her new album Touch is proving. Totally self-funded, Volenté has worked hard to produce an album that reflects where she is currently at, as an artist.
Mature, stronger and confident, her music is honest, real and totally accessible
for purveyors of quality music.
“It’s about falling in and out of love, the ups and downs experienced in
relationships” says Volenté of Touch “it’s about cutting through the pain and the
challenges”.
Having worked on the new album with former EMI Recording Engineer, Tony
Salter (Depeche Mode, Manic Street Preachers, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion,
Moby, The Libertines, Amy Winehouse amongst others) Touch is already
attracting interest online and on social media platforms, indicating that 2017
will indeed be the year of Volenté!
Volenté remains very much her own artist, defying genres, classifications and
labels. The Touch album will be released on January 27, 2017.
What the critics have said about Volenté:-
“When it comes to music, Volenté is a master in her profession, with the ability of infusing subtle elements that slip past many other modern musicians and artists, Volenté fashions beautiful masterpieces that stand the test of time.” Kingloaf.com
“Never holding back in experimenting with sound and painting a rich colourful soundscape for the listener to enjoy and savour, Touch is the perfect introduction to Volenté and the first essential album release of 2017”. Andy Howells, Entertainment South Wales
"Volenté - Quite an otherworldly voice she has bit Kate Bush in places and musically this is pretty unique, fusing classical music drum n bass, snatches of Dub Step and Ambient, closest comparison would be Massive Attack. Fab". ents24
“Volenté has one of those simple, raw voices that you just have to listen to.” Musiceyz.co.uk
“Beautiful, sultry, tones” Syneticmag.co.uk
“Rich, trippy and sometimes unique” Buzz Magazine
Discography:
Volenté - City Lights Part 2 CD005 - 2022
Volenté - City Lights Part 1 CD004 - 2021
olenté - Is This Real (Album) CD003 2021
Volenté - Keep Britain Free (Single) CD002 - 2020
Borne & Razed by Juggernaut Kid, Angie Dean, Volenté, Paul Draper - 2018 BMG Rights Management (UK)
Volenté - Touch CD001 - 2017
Volenté - Broken Promises CD029 -2013
Volenté – Hollow (Single) Dockrad CD026 - 2012
Volenté – Butterflies Fall Away (Album) Dockrad CD017 – 2008
Jason & Volenté – “Duets” Album, Sunday Express – 2005
Jason & Volenté – “Duets” Album 2, Sunday Express - 2005
Volenté – Cold Clean (Album) Dockrad CD014 – 2004
Maniana – Double Eyedrops EP Dockrad CD007 – 2002
Featured Vocal Artist:
Borne & Razed by Juggernaut Kid, Angie Dean, Volenté, Paul Draper 2018 BMG Rights Management (UK)
Nursery of Naughtiness – Ether (Single) 2010
Skep – Sgep (Album) Dockrad CD019=2008
Skep – CTRL-S (Album) Dockrad CD013 – 2004
JT Mouse- Clusters (Album) FFVinyl 023 – 2003
JT Mouse – Sundrenched Torso / Superman (AA Single) BOOB011CD – 2003
Skep – Static (Album) Dockrad CD005 – 2002
Skep – Bingo EP Dockrad CD001 – 2001
MC Mabon – Mr Blaidd (Album) Ankst CD092 - 2000
Featured Band Member:
SaraMeetsV (Cardiff, Wales)
Maniana (Pontypridd, Wales)
Rubyboots (Cardiff, Wales)
JT Mouse (Cardiff, Wales)
Dark Bazaar (Cardiff, Wales)
Captain Paranoid & The Delusions (Cardiff, Wales)
The Sentiment (Cardiff, Wales)
High Life (Cardiff, Wales)
Rachael Mari Kimber (Cardiff, Wales)
Stalin (Port Elizabeth, South Africa)
