25-year-old north London-based singer-songwriter Chelou's (French slang for ‘louche’) real name is presently unknown, earning him recognition as the possessor of 'modern music’s most enigmatic alias'. In interviews, he claimed that he opted for relative anonymity to let his music speak for itself. This strategy has clearly paid off, perhaps granting him the ease of mind to consent to interviews and release photographs of himself (and to appear as an animated alter-ego in his music video, courtesy of illustrator Polly Nor).
His latest single, "Halfway to Nowhere", is a great demonstration of his ear for introspective melodies, juxtaposed against self-effacing existentialist lyrics and subdued electronics:
'How do you get out of bed in the morning
How do you wait to carry the day
Yeah I sing for pleasure
I've sang for pain
I'm still half way to nowhere
I'm still nothing today
They tell me good things come to those who wait
Despite the process along that came from fame'
Lyrics: Musixmatch
The lyrics self-evidently deal with Chelou's loss of direction in life and his struggle with dissonant feelings of self-doubt:
"I think ‘Halfway to Nowhere’ came to light unconsciously as I was travelling. When I’m writing, it’s common that I only realise the meaning behind the song after it’s written; words usually just flow in the hope they’ll rhyme. I had a dictaphone and a nylon string guitar and it was originally about a minute-and-a-half idea. The meaning behind the song is really everything I felt at the time and probably still do. It’s just the frustration of life: things you have, things you want, hope for the future, but also the failure to act upon it".
Chelou, Dazed Digital
Chelou's mellow vocals and mild tempo make it is easy to overlook the pessimism and bleakness in the song's introspective lyrics - a quality that makes Nor's depiction of psychological realism via a grotesque fantasy sequence a great complement to the song.
