When considering Belgian music, artists like Jacques Brel or Stromae often come to mind. While they are proud examples, the small country’s independent music scene has been demanding equal attention as of late. It thrived in the so-called nineties and 2010s, producing garage rock with soul, dreamy electropop lusted after across continents, and musical chameleons that simply refuse categorization. Treat your ears to this amazing new artist “Psy’Aviah”

It’s really something special now-a-days when you receive a hand written letter. This letter explains the artists passion behind the music. The inspiration. It’s authentic and really appreciated by us over here at Exposed Vocals.

“This album is my testament to hope!”, says Yves Schelpe (aka PSY’AVIAH).

“It’s a journey from utter despair towards joy and happiness. With “Lightflare”, I leave behind those bitter moments in life, the album is a beacon, shining, standing tall like a lighthouse in a rough ocean storm, waiting to be a guide for all those lost at sea… For those wandering souls, for you, and perhaps – and more than likely – even for the “future me””.

Lightflare is a 14-track album that retraces the Belgian artist’s music therapy efforts and his emotional ascension from the darkest thoughts towards more joyful moments of enlightenment. While PSY’AVIAH’s sound remains quite focused on his characteristic style range hovering somewhere between the synthpop, electropop  and triphop melange, with sometimes heavier electronic dance tracks, we clearly perceive the switch of atmosphere and moods from the more tortuous and selfquestioning songs (e.g.: “The Great Disconnect”, Lost At Sea”, “Lonely Soul”, “Plan B”, “Aftermath”, “Heavy Heart”, “Under The Rain” or yet “Ghost”) towards more dynamic, shining and positively charged compositions (e.g.: “Sound Of New”, “Game Changer”, Reboot Reset Relay”, Mr. Vanity, “In The Sound”, “For Myself”). Compiled across one full length album, these beautiful, sincere and touchy songs make a whole and reveal PSY’AVIAH at his best, expanding his musical spectrum from jazzy trip-hop to electro rock and break beats while staying faithful to his modern electro / EBM roots.

Yves Schelpe is also here perfectly surrounded by carefully selected male and female vocalists who each brilliantly render the poignant intimacy of these lyrics everyone can easily relate to. We first of all have PSY’AVIAH’s award winning live vocalist Marieke Lightband who sets the emotional bar very high with “The Great Disconnect”, just like Ellia Bisker and Kyoko Bartsoen (ex-HOOVERPHONIC, LUNASCAPE) respectively do it on “Aftermath” and “Plan B”. Other highlights are also reached through the collaboration with Michael Evans (MiXE1) who brings PSY’AVIAH closer to a band like MESH as well as the energetic featuring together with KONER. Some other infamous ”usual” partners of crimes are also part of the game again including the unmatchable voice of Mari Kattman, Fallon Nieves, David Chamberlin (ENTRZELLE), as well as the incisive guitar parts signed by Jürgen Brischar of JUNKSISTA and by live member Ben van de Cruys, the meticulous mixing work of Mitia Wexler, the mastering touch of Geert de Wilde (IC 434) and the unique design of Japanese artist Tomoki Haysaka.

“Lightflare” starts as a cry for help to progressively turn into a symbol of hope. Rich in sparkling emotions and melodic freshness, this inspiring and shining album is bound to become a classic in its genre and is a golden milestone in PSY’AVIAH’s impressive discography.

There is light at the end of every tunnel, let this album shine on you and become your beacon whenever darkness sets in…

“Lightflare” also comes out as a double-CD carton-fold edition with a bonus disc featuring 4 exclusive meditative / contemplative tracks inspired upon both triphop/ambient and more ethereal Indian and yoga philosophies & sounds; plus remixes by ASSEMBLAGE 23, Jean-Marc Lederman, SD-KRTR, PEOPLE THEATRE, CHAOS ALL STARS, ALTER FUTURE, ROOL, CYBORGDRIVE and ISSERLEY.

TRACKLIST                                        CD 2 “Reboot Remix Replay” bonus disc – limited edition only

CD 1 “Lightflare”                                                                   01. Earth, Wind, Fire, Air and Sky (Om Namaha Shivaya)

1. Lost At Sea (ft. Mari Kattman) Lost At Sea (ft. Mari Kattman) (Rool  remix)
2. Aftermath (ft. Ellia Bisker) Plan B (ft. Kyoko Baertsoen) (SD-Krtr remix)
3. The Great Disconnect (ft. Marieke Lightband) Aftermath (ft. Ellia Bisker) (People Theatre remix)
4. Sound of New (ft. Addie Nicole) Sound Of New (ft. Addie Nicole) (Alter Future remix)
5. In The Sound (ft. MiXE1) The Rhythm Will Guide You (Chandaas Talaah)
6. For Myself (ft. Lofthill) Lost At Sea (ft. Mari Kattman) (Assemblage 23 remix)
7. Heavy Heart (ft. Mari Kattman) Aftermath (ft. Ellia Bisker) (Chaos All Stars remix)
8. Reboot Reset Relay (ft. Fallon Nieves) Sound Of New (ft. Addie Nicole) (SD-Krtr remix)
9. Ghost (ft. David Chamberlin) Reboot Reset Relay (ft. Fallon Nieves) (Cyborgdrive remix)
10. Lonely Soul (ft. Phoebe Stone) Lonely Soul (ft. Phoebe Stone) (Isserley remix)
11. Plan B (ft. Kyoko Baertsoen) Truth Is My Identity (Sat Nam)
12. Game Changer (ft. MiXE1) Lost At Sea (ft. Mari Kattman) (Jean-Marc Lederman remix)
13. Under The Rain (vs. KONER) Sound Of New (ft. Addie Nicole) (Alter Future remix dub)
14. Vanity (ft. Fallon Nieves) 15. Searching Anagata (Om)

Exclusive Interview with PSY’AVIAH

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

I grew up in a suburb of Antwerp – Ekeren, Belgium. I was always fascinated with music, as it can have such an impact on people when done right. I never really decided to be, or call myself an artist, I don’t consider myself one – I merely produce music on topics I feel strongly about at that moment in time, and I try to tell a story. But the inspiration certainly came from an album called “Mutant Funk” by Praga Khan – it triggered me to make electronic music.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Focus on getting a good composition first, a solid song, good songwriting. If production, mixing and mastering isn’t your cup of tea, then invest in someone to help you out – the essence of the song will remain, it’s still your song. But it will be made sound great by professionals, and you can then focus on writing good songs, melodies and lyrics.

Exposed Vocals: Do you ever make mistakes during performances? How do you handle that?

Playing live implicates mistakes, we often do alter the songs so they sound different live than on the album – to give the listeners a different experience. But mistakes are seldom, we just go on with performing, keep focused on the song, being immersed. As I work with guest vocalist from around the world, I can’t take them all on stage – so I have a core live band with on vocals Marieke Lightband and on guitars Ben Van de Cruys, with myself on keys. I couldn’t be happier with Marieke and Ben, they perfectly know what Psy’Aviah is about and convey the emotion to the audience.

Exposed Vocals: Any planned studio upgrades? What are you working with now?

In the studio I work with both FL Studio and Ableton. My goto instrument to start a track/idea is a template I made in FL Studio, with a stock piano from Nexus II. If that progression and bass sound good there – then I start adding other elements in and convert the song to a more electronic vibe. I use a lot of free VST plugins as well, my strings often are layered with “Meltron”, a free plugin that replicates the sound of a Mellotron – those strings can sound so sad, and sound so warm and thick.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Being honest and being yourself in your music and towards your fans. Trying to respond when I can and sharing my experiences. After each album we do a blog/vlog that dissects some of the songs for example, sharing how a track came to be and what effects we used, what process of songwriting was done… Music videos are also a central theme for Psy’Aviah – for each album we at least produce 3 or 4 music videos, this is to tell the story in a visual way. The most recent one is “Lost At Sea” ft. Mari Kattman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Dw0Dx5_-Y

Exposed Vocals: If you could perform anywhere and with any artists (Dead or Alive) where and who would it be with? Why?

I’d love to collaborate with either Susanne Sundfør – a vocalist that’s probably most known for her collaboration with Roÿksopp’s song “Running To The Sea”. She has a very distinct voice, a kind of voice I haven’t been able to work with up to know. I think it would be very creative. In the same line, I think working with ROBYN would be very interesting as well – due to her creativity!

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

First of all we just released a track “Lost At Sea”, the first single of our new album “Lightflare” coming out February 9^th 2018 on Alfa Matrix Records, and already available for pre-order (at http://alfa-matrix-store.com/psyaviah-lightflare-CD) – our focus is on that and producing the music videos for the tracks on the album. I can already give away that there will be music videos for “Aftermath” and “In The Sound”!

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

In my day job I’m a software developer, or a programmer. I write software for a living, so I guess I would be doing that even more at night in stead of making music ;-).. I always describe myself as “Programmer by day, Musician at night” – and I wouldn’t want to miss both, I have a deep and strong passion for both as with programming and music you create something from scratch, from zero, from nothing – and then suddenly you have a complete song or software solution. That is a great feeling.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in the next year or so?

The release of our album “Lightflare” on February 9^th 2018 (watch the sampler at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHJSESut3Z4) and that will go along with new music videos, performances and some contests! So be sure to follow us on facebook, twitter and Instagram to keep yourself up to date!

Exposed Vocals: Any Shout-outs?

I’d like to thank all my guest vocalists as without them my music would be incomplete – they put the icing on the cake: Mari Kattman, Ellia Bisker, Marieke Lightband, Addie Nicole, Michael Evans, Fallon Nieves, Phoebe Stone and David Chamberlin.

I’d also like to do an announcement for Phoebe Stone in particular,  in real life however, she’s known as Phoebe Marti – and apart from the amazing vocalist she is – she has to live life with Rheumatoid arthritis, #Fibromyalgia, Sjogren’s Disease, Connective Tissue Disorder and more…

#Freedom and #independence is something we all take for granted..
With a body that is in constant turmoil against itself and the rest of the world she struggles with everyday things – she is helped by her husband whenever he can, but isn’t always home of course (working long hourse). A Service Dog would allow Phoebe the #independence and #freedom to move around my home and out in public freely with the confidence that she has assistance when needed.

You can support her cause here https://www.gofundme.com/4so4js8.

Album Score 8.5 /10