DJ, producer, vocalist – Colette has grown from an integral part of the Chicago underground into a breakout musical triple-threat releasing her most accomplished and fully realized artistic statement to date.

Combining the tunefulness of classic pop songs with the thump of classic house of her hometown, the album ventures into new sonic territory for Colette, from intimate bedroom beats to stadium-shaking dance anthems. When the Music’s Loud is the sound of an artist at the peak of her powers.

“I grew up listening to pop in the ‘80s, and as I got older, I was really deep into the ‘90s house scene,” says COLETTE when talking about the shockingly panoramic sounds found on her third studio full-length, When the Music’s Loud (Candy Talk Records). “For me, these two elements are always sort of married. This album is my way of bringing those sounds together as one.”

“We started crafting this record, and it wasn’t until we wrote ‘Electricity’ that we figured out what we really wanted to do,” Colette explains of the new album’s origins. “Even though it’s so far away from what I normally do, the tone of it was where we clicked,” referencing her longtime songwriting partner Tim K. “It was different, but it still sounded familiar, and it was exciting to us.”

The album is awash with the robotic sounds of the vocoder, famously used to legendary effect by such pioneers as Giorgio Moroder and Electric Light Orchestra, but here is applied by Colette in her own inimitable fashion.

“We put them in as slight undertones in some songs, so you might not even notice that they’re there,” she explains. “The first time I ever saw someone use a vocoder was when I was 8. My friend’s parents were in a band, and they had one of those keyboards with the hose attachment that you would sing into for the vocoder effect. From that moment on, I always thought they were cool. That was a theme as well for us on this album: We wanted to take these old elements and use them in a modern way.”

"We were influenced by Kraftwerk, Africa Bambaataa and Romanthony,” Colette reveals. “‘80’s futurism was the inspiration and launch pad for this album.”

Lyrically, When the Music’s Loud finds Colette looking back at her 20 years of making music and clearly seeing what was really important on the journey from then to now.

“We were thinking about the countless stories from the ongoing travels of life. There are some love stories in there, but it’s more about friendship and the people around you as you grow. I’ve had the same group of friends for 20 years, and we were all in this environment together. We’re family.”

The music, the memories, the people, the places — it’s a journey that Colette has shared with the world around her for as long as she’s been able, cultivating a large and loyal fan base that’s always eager to support the sounds she brings to light.