Chantal Acda

Chantal Acda

Chantal Acda is a Dutch-born, Belgium-based singer and songwriter from Helmond, born in 1978. She works in folk and acoustic-oriented music and appears under her own name as well as in several collaborations and band projects, including Sleepingdog, Distance, Light & Sky, True Bypass, Chacda, Isbells and Nu Nog Even Niet.

Sleepingdog and group work

She works under the Sleepingdog name from 2006 and releases three albums in that project: Naked In A Clean Bed, Polar Life and With Our Heads in the Clouds and Our Hearts in the Fields. The last of these is made with Adam Wiltzie, known for work with Stars of the Lid and A Winged Victory For The Sullen. Sleepingdog also tours the UK and Benelux with Low. Around the same period, Acda is a regular on-stage presence with Isbells.

Solo recording

Her first solo album grows out of her work in different formations and her interest in shared human patterns. For that record, she brings together collaborators whose styles and backgrounds connect with her approach to freedom and intensity in performance. Nils Frahm is the first to join the project; the German pianist also plays throughout the album and produces it. Peter Broderick contributes as a multi-instrumentalist and is known for his solo work and collaborations including Efterklang. Cellist Gyda Valtýsdóttir, who previously plays with Acda in the Sleepingdog live band, also takes part; she has also been a member of the Icelandic group múm. Shahzad Ismaily completes the group after an initial encounter leads to an immediate musical rapport.

Let Your Hands Be My Guide

Let Your Hands Be My Guide is the resulting nine-song album, released on Gizeh Records in 2013. It brings together the five musicians in a recording shaped by warmth, vulnerability and close interplay.