Hooverphonic

The Belgian ambient pop band Hooverphonic featured vocalist Liesje Sadonius, guitarist/programmer Alex Callier, keyboardist Frank Duchêne, and guitarist Raymond Geerts. Known simply as Hoover across Europe, the group made their initial splash contributing the song "2Wicky" to the soundtrack of the 1996 Bernardo Bertolucci film Stealing Beauty, followed a year later by the full-length New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular. Sadonius left Hooverphonic a short time later, and was replaced by vocalist Geike Arnaert in time to record 1998's Blue Wonder Power Milk. The band went from strength to strength during the next decade, releasing three more studio albums and a live orchestral album, Sit Down and Listen to Hooverphonic, but left Sony BMG in 2006 in protest at lack of support from the label, releasing a singles compilation as a contractual obligation. In 2008 they signed with the powerhouse Belgian indie PIAS to release the album The President of the LSD Golf Club, but shortly after its release, Arnaert left the band to pursue a solo career. Undeterred, the band began the search for a replacement. After receiving thousands of applications from all over the world, they finally decided on a young Belgian woman, Noémie Wolfs, who had almost no previous musical experience. Their first album with Wolfs on vocals, entitled The Night Before, was issued in 2010. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi