BELGITUNES: Le Colisée

No, Belgium and Brussels are not only “hellholes” as would say ~~the ugly~~ Donald Trump! Our wonderful country is also a refuge for young talented and creative artists. Every Wednesday, we take some time to present one of them to the world. This week, let’s spend some time in the twisting pop music of Brussels-based band “Le Colisée”.

Before being a five-piece band, “Le Colisée” was a single person, David Nzeyimana, who as a complete one-man band, started to release music under this nickname in 2012. An eponymous first EP was released on Bandcamp and, at the same time, was establishing the basis of a project that defies the codes of traditional pop music. It must be noted that Nzeyimana happily quotes the Queen of alternative pop Kate Bush and English 80s band Prefab Sprout (and Drake) among his main influences.

The band became a four-piece group when Nzeyimana met three other musicians in high school: . They were then joined, one year after, by Clément (keyboard, guitar and laptop). “Le Colisée” is certainly one of the most promising and exciting indie pop act of Belgium right now, by proposing a non-conventional, dreamlike and inventive music. Like a tightrope walker, mixing analogic and acoustic instrumentations, delivering catchy and weird songs at the same time; the young band already found a credible balance that we just want to see growing. In 2013, “Le Colisée” is the winner of the “Du F. Dans Le Texte” competition, an award intended for promising French-speaking amateur artists.

In 2015, they are finally back with a second EP “Vie Eternelle” (“Eternal Life” in English), the first one with the current formation. As Nzeyimana told us, “Le Colisée” is getting more and more collaborative and that can be heard in the sound. This second EP sounds more complete, in the production but also in the ideas. “Les Dieux Fous” is a delightful treasure, a spacey trip to faraway places that maybe don’t even exist somewhere else than in the memories or the dreams.

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The EP features the track “Vie Eternelle”, whose video was directed by Nzeyimana himself!

The band is now working on their sophomore EP that is described by Raphaël, the guitarist-keyboardist of the band, as something “more muscled than the previous one”. It will also include collaborations with other creative and interesting artists but so far, it remains an exciting mystery.

If you want to follow them, here are their Facebook page, their Soundcloud account and their Bandcamp.

“Le Colisée” are currently touring and are in the lineup of the ABBota Festival late February in Brussels. Get your tickets here.