#259
Elisa Waut is a Belgian trio that formed in Bruges in the early 80s, originally by siblings Elsje and Hans Helewaut. The two of them were equally inspired by Joy Division and French icons like Edith Piaf. Their first release was a cassette with 8 tracks, with Hans playing all the instruments. This self-titled tape came out in 1982 and they were soon contacted by Chery Derycke of Red Zebra, who then joined them on bass.
This first tape was eventually remastered and reissued by Numero Group in 2019. Hearing it for the first time I was surprised that Minimal Wave hadn’t put this out ages ago, but they actually do appear on the classic 2006 compilation The Lost Tapes. The track here is ”Russia” which was also on their debut tape, but this is a newer version from 1985. They had been signed by Ariola after winning a talent contest and put out their first mini-LP, also called Elisa Waut.
It included new studio version of ”Russia” and their Marlene Dietrich tribute ”Unrath”. As the group’s music became more refined, they got a hit with the track ”Four Times More” in 1987 (check out the video below). This gave Ariola to reissue the mini-LP, now as a full album including the intervening single tracks.
This era of the band reminds a lot of another Belgian group called Benthøler, that I listened to a lot in my late teens. Both would have fit in nicely on the label Les Disques Du Crépuscule. But despite having the backing of a major label Elisa Waut never became pop stars, except in Japan.
Their first real album Commedia came out in 1987 and then two more records for Ariola followed. They even continued in the 90s with a couple of self-released LPs. That wasn’t the end of the group though. Following renewed interest in their music – their early compositions now considered classic coldwave – they reformed and put out the new album Portraits and Landscapes in 2015. Elsje Helewaut still performs live.
Read more about them at Numero Group.
