Victor Solf

Primarily known as part of the minimalist French electronic soul-pop duo Her, Victor Solf treads a similar sonic path in his solo career. While still acknowledging the inventive R&B sound that he achieved with his late bandmate Simon Carpentier, for his solo material, Solf creates a fuller, but no less heartfelt, take on the genre.
Born in Berlin in 1990, by the time Solf was nine, his father was no longer part of his life, leading to him being raised by his mother, aunt, and grandmother. In time, he moved to France, receiving his secondary school education at Lycée Émile Zola in Rennes. It was there that he met Carpentier, and the pair soon formed a close personal and musical bond while studying classical music together. A trip to London inspired the direction of their indie quartet the Popopopops, whose album Swell was issued by ZRP in 2013. After that act dissolved, a 2015 showcase gig in New York led to the major-label signing of a new act, Her, comprising Solf and Carpentier. The pair’s debut EP, Tape #1, featured “Five Minutes” a track that went on to achieve 30 million streams in the first six years of its release.
Following three more well-received EPs, in August 2017 Carpentier tragically lost his life to cancer. Prior to his death, he asked Solf to complete what they had started, to keep singing their songs and spreading the word about their band. As a result, for the next 18 months at least, Solf continued to tour as Her. He even completed the recordings that they had begun together for their sole, eponymous debut album, which saw release in March 2018. Later that year, Solf collaborated with the Ukrainian artist Ivan Dorn on the single “Right Wrong.” It was his first recorded output under his own name, and in February 2019 he played his last show as Her, vowing to focus on the next chapter of his career.
Solf’s first proper solo single came in the form of November 2019′s “Traffic Lights,” a somber, reflective piano-based ballad that was issued under license to Virgin France. A further single, “Hero,” was released in January, before both tracks appeared on Solf’s debut solo EP, Aftermath, that same month. The summer brought his 12 Monkeys mixtape, a beacon of experimentalism in his canon. Next, he embarked on an extended period of songwriting in Brittany, leading to the composition of much of the material that made up his April 2021 debut album, Still. There's Hope. The Beach Boys-inspired single “I Don’t Fit” and “How Did We?” — featuring Montreal’s Zefire — both preceded a release that was full of themes of loss, grief, and soul searching, while being fueled by the energy and positivity that comes with a strong determination to maintain the creative spirit. ~ James Wilkinson