Petite Noir

Merging post-punk and African music traditions right into a design he telephone calls “noir wave,” Petite Noir may be the task of South African singer/songwriter/manufacturer Yannick Ilunga. Delivered in Brussels, he shifted along with his Angolan mom and Congolese dad to Cape City when he was six, and was raised performing and playing electric guitar in cathedral. After spending time in the metalcore music group Fallen Within, Ilunga’s concepts of what music could possibly be were transformed after hearing Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak, and he started tinkering with Ableton while composing his very own tracks. When he was still in his teenagers, he fulfilled and started playing electric guitar for township technology pioneer Spoek Mathambo and shaped the chillwave duo Popskarr with Terrence Pearce, whom Ilunga fulfilled through Mathambo. He continuing to focus on his personal music, combining consumer electronics, acoustic guitar, and his wide-ranging vocals into what would become Petite Noir. The project’s 1st single, “Right up until We Spirits,” found its way to 2012 and quickly gained acclaim; Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) made an appearance on the remix of “Right up until We Spirits,” and he opened up for Solange on her behalf 2013 tour. Ilunga authorized to the Domino imprint Two times Six and released the monitor “Chess” past due in 2014, soon before his debut EP, The Ruler of Anxiety, found its way to March 2015. Acquiring its name from an acclaimed Congolese film, Petite Noir’s full-length debut La Vie Est Belle was documented with Boxed In’s Oli Bayston and Ibibio Audio Machine’s Leon Brichard. It had been released in Sept 2015.