Melissmell

Born in Valence in 1981 as Mélanie Coulet, Melissmell has developed since the mid-2000s a repertoire situated between French rock, alternative rock and chanson d’auteur. Her writing is direct, her textures alternate between acoustic and electric, and her performances are often tense. Her beginnings took shape in Avignon in 2004, then on the road and in small venues, before settling in Strasbourg in 2007 and opening for Rachid Taha at La Laiterie. After the EP Aux armes in 2010, she released Écoute s’il pleut in 2011, an album that established the foundations of her universe — balancing social engagement, dark melodies and rock energy. She continued with Droit dans la gueule du loup in 2013, collaborating with Guillaume Favray and surrounding herself with musicians such as Daniel Jamet and François Matuszenski. Melissmell then issued L’Ankou in 2016, where the songwriting gained more organic accents and sparser atmospheres, followed by Les Enfants de Maldonne in 2022. On stage she alternates between full-band formats and more stripped-down configurations, building a career across independent circuits, contemporary music venues and festivals.