Libby Lavella and Antonio Gambale are the music duo - Jumeaux. They create music exclusively for "The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel", a series of books, currently up to its 4th volume, by bestselling author Michael Scott. Published by Random House on its Delacorte imprint, each book in the series to date has been a New York Times top-ten bestseller.
Michael Scott, an innovative and forward-thinking novelist, has expanded the scope of his published books into other media, including several online games and interactive experiences for readers via the Nicholas Flamel website. He has also gathered a substantial fan base, with a sizable and active Facebook and Twitter following along with over 100,000 hits to his personal site per week.
In 2008, Michael approached LA-based singer/songwriter Libby Lavella. Mutual fans of each others work, he asked her about the idea of writing original songs based on characters and themes in the Nicholas Flamel universe. Libby connected with Paris-based composer Antonio Gambale, and wrote and recorded the song "Carry My Voice", a theme song for Flamel's wife, the enchantress Perenelle Flamel. This song was made available on Random House's official Nicholas Flamel website and Flamel's Immortal Portal, the official fan site, and was a big hit with fans being downloaded over 120,000 times. It also inspired fan-created video clips posted on YouTube.
In an interesting parallel with the first two books of the series, the stories of which take place first in the US and then in Paris, Libby traveled there to write and record another two songs for the series. Working again with composer Antonio Gambale, the songs "This Way Forever" and "Find the Words" were produced.
"This Way Forever" is a theme song for the lead characters in the series - the twins Josh and Sophie. The song is sung as a trading male/female vocal duet and explores the duality and intertwined life of twins as challenges in life threaten to tear apart the inseparable. The themes evoked by the song echo the same exploration of these characters in the books.
"Find the Words" is a song about the transformational "Awakening" that both of the twins go through during the course of the story. Again presented as a male/female duet, it explores the idea of point-of-no-return transformations in life, and the sensation of trying to describe the indescribable - a musical response to the same theme covered in the books.
During the process of writing and recording these songs, Libby and Antonio visited and drew inspiration from many of the real-world locations described in the second volume set in Paris, including the still-standing 14th century home of Nicholas Flamel and the Paris catacombs.
The songs were recorded in the Paris studios of leading French film composer, Nathaniel Mechaly, drawing on a diverse range of instruments from cello, classic electric guitars, to Oberheim and Moog synthesizer. Additional production and final mixing took place in London by programmer and mixer Andy Page, best known for his work mixing Alanis Morisette's album "Flavors of Entanglement". A new single is soon to come called Find The Words, mixed by Michael Perfitt.
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