Biography
"Dear Camille,
Your bio references your peripatetic pursuits....(just a Google away)....LAX, Berlin, maybe in transit over a canvas-topped flat-bed truck laden with frozen cod, headed for a Whaler parked at a Norwegian fyord, perched for a crossing to the Lofoten, Islands....I just have no idea what you're calling home plate now. I am impressed by yer impressions.
Your music, finely crafted. your work shows a fusion of analogue and synthetic sources. I heartily approve of your decisions, and hope this finds you with much wind in your sails, wherever you are.
Light Perpetual fall upon you!"
-Van Dyke Parks
-------
Camille Davila is an international songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and recording artist who moves around in a beautiful landscape of melodic electronica and glamourous synth-pop and acoustic 60s influenced psychedelic folk. Once known as the “enigmatic pop-glam princess”, she is an extremly independant artists, who will fly out of any pidgoen hole you place her in with shameless abandon. She both produces and arranges most of her own songs. In fact, on many of her recordings she has even played every instrument herself. But this does not stop her from sharing her sessions with some of Europes finest musicians.
Born in Los Angeles, California, she spent most of her teenage years ping ponging the west coast until relocating to Europe, primarily England. In 2000 she signed to Below Records to release her debut album,”Not For The Disco”. Several European tours followed before a second album, “World of Gliding Monsters” was released. She then played through a residency at Ladytron's famous Liverpool club "Korova" while continuing to tour.
In 2007, after a brief return to California to form a new band and play shows in America, Camille brought her band to London to record the album Hi-C. “Hi – C”, was released in 2008 on Poly Records, half recorded in her home studio, half recorded with great help from the incredible artist/producer/arranger extraordinaire Jeron Gundersen (dibidim/Bearfarm) at Bakehouse Studios in Nofrolk, UK and was mastered by Jonas Raabe (Dibidim) in the Guillemots studio in London. A music video for song "Wireless World" directed by Jacqueline Passmore (visual artist for bands such as Ladytron and Stereolab) was launched in October 2007 and toured several film festival circuits.
Though Camille is very comfortable with doing most of the work herself, she prefers to collaborate and has through the years worked the most with the following people: Stein Urheim, Jeron Gundersen (mentioned above) and the Norwegian producer HP Gundersen, Heidi Goodbye, (Torsvik).
Sometime in the 2000s HP Gundersen (producer of the likes of Sondre Lerche and band The Last Hurrah (!!) had heard some recordings of Camille while visiting the band Bearfarm, and requested to meet her. Camille had been living in Oslo, Norway during this time, and on trips to Bergen they started working on what became the album “Divided Skies”, released on Goodbye Records in 2013. HP got her set up with a nice studio and help from drummer Mette Mathiesen (drummer of Jeff Lynne) and Daniel Birkeland, and then the hard post production and arrangement began with long-time collaborator Jeron Gundersen and cohort Jonas Lie Theis before being completed in Badminton Bay Studios with Jonas Raabe in Oslo, Norway.
Following the release of Divided Skies Camille played regularly in Nofolk, UK where she resides alongside artist Pat Falgate and also teamed up with the great Heidi Goodbye for tours of both the USA and Norway.
Her music has received accolades from the likes of Jeff Lynne ( ELO ) and Van Dyke Parks who provided the text above, and became a collaborator on her upcoming album “The Local Orchestra”. She credits her inspiration to pursue music from her beginnings working for The Long Now Foundation in San Francisco where she watched artists such as Brian Eno enjoy a varying level of projects outside of music.
"I remember thinking "what an amazing life, to be immersed in music-making but also to be so involved in other subjects. That's what I want to do, I want to be surrounded by sound but I also want to have the freedom with my time to pursue other interests".
And she continues to do exactly that. Outside of music Camille is an avid runner, voice-over artist and works as a vocal coach and music teacher when time allows, with continuing her studies in Vocal Pedagogy and music theory.
Currently Camille is splitting her time, partly residing with Jeron Gundersen, who has bought a property in the North of Spain where he is creating an experience-space/music studio, while still remaining with her feet in Norfolk and working on a new project with artist Emily Winng called “Lassie”. This at the same time as releasing a new album “The Local Orchestra” - a wild mix of “whirling symphonic mayhem mixed with old-world vibrations, folkloric sensations and soothing incantations” recorded in Norway, the UK, Spain and the USA and arranged by Camille Davila and Van Dyke Parks!