About Ysan Roche

The highly-textured music and vivid visual presentations of versatile singer and multi-media artist Ysan Roche illuminate the never-ending possibilities of the soul to transform and emerge from the ashes into enlightenment and self celebration. The vibrant melodies and the intricately-crafted images she expresses through film, photography and fashion embody her belief that music is freedom and is alive as a unique character in its own exhilarating, heroic story, overflowing with romance, tragedy and triumph. The breadth of sonic colors she reveals through each song expose the diversity of her profound musical and artistic influences: brave multi-instrumental pioneers like Björk; challenging, dynamic and dark icons such as Marilyn Manson; sultry songwriters and philosophers such as David Bowie and The Velvet Underground and spirited, clever, energetic pop mavens like Gwen Stefani. Through every mesmerizing performance, Ysan Roche honors the journey of the human spirit’s rise from the depths of darkness into the beautiful light of harmonious balance with the universe.

Ysan Roche first decided she would pursue life as a singer when, as a child she was moved by the beats and melodies of powerful ‘70s and ‘80s dance music written and performed by artists like ABBA and lost herself in the bizarre paintings she would create while listening to the radio with her siblings. Though she began piano lessons at age five and later took up electric guitar, she always returned to the joy of singing, thriving in Gospel choir at just six-years old and beginning formal voice lessons, which she paid for herself, as a teenager. It was through formal training that she discovered her voice was well suited to jazz and blues songs, and she became enraptured by the love songs of Diana Krall and Tori Amos. Simultaneously studying all types of dance, from ballet, to jazz and even belly dancing as well as acting and modelling, she revealed in the exquisiteness and excitement of movement and using her body as a way to express her deepest desires and emotions. Raised amidst colourful and creative European gypsy children, she also drew inspiration from that local culture and was fascinated by the idea that singing, dancing and expressing herself through art was not only a way of life, but could also a rewarding profession.

As a fiercely independent teenager, she was captivated by the house music she heard in German and London clubs and began to create her own rules, a new language for her fast-beating heart that would eventually teach her how to push society’s boundaries with elegance and to translate her own adventures into music and powerful visual images. An aficionada of video games that incorporated music and art, she found herself wrapped up in technology, particularly in the throbbing, intense bass and drums of electro music. The lush layers she now creates through each song articulate the full gamut of emotion and the subtle power of female sexuality and is clearly informed by her own distinctive journey. They culminate into an experience that is mesmerizing, ever resonating with mysterious surprises.

With the support of influential musical and artistic mentors and through her own fearless experimentation, Ysan Roche has been able to develop a strong sense of self, which she marks as her acceptance of a variety of distinct personas that live in harmony within and express the valuable lessons she has learned throughout her life: “the anarchist” – her unbound, wild and experimental side; “the alien,” who represents her philosophical, solitary self; the “intellectual woman” – her entrepreneurial spirit; “the playful child;” “the diva,” who delights in extravagance; the “dark side” – her deepest, most extreme and bizarre feelings and “madness,” which represents her fear of losing the balance that has been achieved by the emotionally-honest artist Ysan Roche.

To commemorate her own spirit’s evolution into emotional honesty, she has also developed her own style of music called Black Yelllow Pop, which represents rebelling against traditional pop music by yelling in a low voice alongside heavy rock guitars and elements of the Goth culture. Greatly inspired by the poet Francis Picabia, the lyrics delve beneath the surface of the human psyche. The “black” and “yellow” combine to illustrate the extremes -- night and day, dark and light – that are within every human being and convey that everyone must survive crisis, madness, hate and obsession in order to emerge through the tunnel into light, love and happiness. Black Yelllow Pop also enunciates the notion that even life’s most bizarre creatures and elements can be sublimely beautiful.

Ever since she released her very first song, “Thunder Storms” through MySpace in 2007, she has captured worldwide attention for her innovative approach and depth as a singer, songwriter and producer. Her debut album, Brain Artificial Limb released in 2008 and symbolizes her birth into music and the culmination of and the world as experienced by her different personas. Often directing her own videos and producing her own music, she has also collaborated with other renowned producers, songwriters and musicians including Oak, Guido v. Monrath and Arty Skye (Will Smith, Madonna, Alicia Keys). She also recently recorded three songs – “Bass Gun,” “Illusion” and “Perverted Romantic” – with Yoad Nevo in London. A darling of underground clubs worldwide, Ysanne Roche was featured in early 2012 at the Berlin Unhinged festival and will be performing stage shows throughout the UK and the U.S. in the coming months.