His sound is melancholic, hauntingly beautiful, a touch surreal, and instantly hypnotic. And while the words can be dark, there’s a beat that makes you want to dance and a rhythm that’s intoxicating. The sound Yannick Ilunga has fashioned is distinctive, edgy, and wondrous. It is a rich, computer-layered blend of synths, bass drums, bass guitar, and beats assembled from Africa. There’s the live drumming, the handclaps, and – of course – Yannick’s own big, bewitching voice. Voluptuous and reassuring, it’s the kind of voice you can climb inside and drift away on. At times, it’s slightly spooky, too. And then it comes back in a different guise and lifts you up. Way up. It’s a voice that’s drawn comparisons with such iconic artists as Morrissey, and has been described favourably as “Joy Division meets Paul Simon in Graceland”. Yet the most striking thing about the music Yannick’s been making since going solo five years ago, is its originality. Now producing and performing under the moniker “Petite Noir”, he manages to redeploy a range of musical elements and influences in ways you’ve never heard before. Embedded in that rich textural fusion are lyrics that hint at gloom. “Only you can make me feel the pain,” he intones, but by the time you’re aware of the potential for sadness, you’re hooked by the wonder and beauty of what’s being channelled from your ears to your soul. The man is an enchanter. At the same time, his music is ambitious. Not in any sort of pretentious sense, but in that it’s layered and complex. And it works on multiple levels.
This quality may allude to his own cultural background. Although Yannick spent most of his childhood in Sea Point, Cape Town, and now lives mostly in London, he was born in Belgium to Congolese and Angolan parents. So he grew up in a French-speaking household, which explains the origins of “Petite Noir”, essentially a minor corruption of the French term petit noir, meaning “little black”. The name is intentionally in-yourface, he claims, aimed at keeping people talking. It’s strikingly ironic, too: Yannick isn’t “little” at all – he’s over six feet tall – and there’s nothing small about the scale of his music, either. One French radio station has already labelled him “the saviour of South African music”. Yannick’s musical journey has been rich and varied, kick-started by singing in church as a boy. “When I was younger, I was listening to a lot of Congolese rumba, RnB, pop, punk, metal… and I even went through stages where I was listening to a lot of jazz. Traditional African music was also always around me.” He was about 15 when he discovered his affinity for the guitar, and found his voice. “Whenever I saw a guitar, I had to hold it or play it,” he says. “It was as if the guitar and me were one. And then I discovered my voice, which has come to be my most precious gift, the best instrument I know how to ‘play’.” Like many musicians, Yannick went through divergent phases. For a time he was in the metalcore band, Fallen Within, and says his ideas about music were radically changed by Kanye West’s
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