In 2000, she left for New Zealand on her own in order to travel for a year and learn English (a language she is particularly fond of). It is there that she started her musical journey by buying a 100 New Zealand dollar guitar (about 90 Swiss francs) and by playing and singing the music of all those musicians who inspired her : Ben Harper, Toris Amos, Fiona Apple and many others...
One trip led to another... having not been long home, she left for Asia, Australia, and later on, Canada. In 2002, Lole worked for six months in a day school for handicapped children and teenagers where she came to the realisation that music could be used for therapeutic purposes too.
It is in the same spirit that she started composing and writing her own music, timidly and not without difficulty. Little by little, she started playing in front of her friends and acquaintances.
In december 2003, she was discovered by the members of the “Caprices Festival”, who offered her a concert, followed by a second one, marking the begining of an unbelievable adventure. In the summer of 2004, Lole playded a bunch of well-known festivals : Festi’neuch in Neuchâtel (sharing the bill with Sinclair, Faudel, Jérémie Kisling and Johnny Clegg) or the “Festival de la Cité” in Lausanne, playing on the big stage of the castle just after the fabulous concert of two monsters of jazz music ; Michel Portal et Bernard Lubat.
After meeting Simon Gerber, a talented Swiss musician and singer, who offered her his help through several stage and studio experiences, a first album project saw the light. Her first album, “The Smell of Wait”, was released onto the Swiss market in April 2005. Despite being self produced on a shoestring, the album has gone on to sell over 3500 copies, and has been widely acclaimed by the press and the music industry as being a ‘real find’. Two songs from the album have been included on some of Switzerland’s favourite radio stations’ playlists.
It has to be said that the young 23 year-old songwriter and perfomer is not without talent ; supported on the album and on stage by talented and renowned Swiss artists, her sublime voice distills jazz, folk and pop with an ease that is reminiscent of the American protest songs icons.
On stage, Lole gives a mesmerising performance, blending softness and sensuality with more electric sounds. Quality live shows have already given her the opportunity to appear in front of audiences at the biggest Swiss festivals, such as Paléo Festival in Nyon, where she played to a packed crowd in the“club tent” (about 3000 people). Several newspapers then spoke of “the biggest discovery of the 30th Paléo”. From now on, Lole’s concerts are sold out from Geneva to Zurich.
Hot on the heels of this success, Lole recorded her second album during the autumn of 2006, between Carpentras (Vega Studio), Lausanne and New York. For this new CD, produced in ideal conditions, Lole remained faithful to the talented Simon Gerber for the production as she did to the musicians (Raphaël Pedroli et Julien Revilloud). The Lausanne-based pianist Daniel Perrin and a string quartet backing this team up, gave Lole’s compositions a new dimension, thus marking a turning point in her young career.