On the opening track of her sophomore album Enchanted Sea (May 29th, 2026 – via Labelman), the Belgian singer-songwriter Camille Willemart, aka Camille Camille, sings, with pure absolution, “Way out there and far at sea, oh my baby soon will be.” The track, Bottle Rocket, is the quintessential song of love and light, and from the very first strum of that gentle guitar, you are being guided by a track and indeed an entire album that seeks to throw open arms around you, examining a journey that starts with open wounds before healing, introspection, and ultimately, comfort in human existence.
Camille Camille has the remarkable ability to always remain in arm’s reach; she never feels beyond you, aiding an intimate and personal listening experience. Le Vent is the sound of quiet fury, tender acoustic work that builds a temper as it conjures the sound of a storm, militant drumming that eventually passes over to reveal her right in the centre, ringing out with those echoed vocals.
Dove or the Devil is a crowning moment and the track that tethers the entire album together. At its core, the song is all things pure of heart and authenticity, seeing our songwriter go to the most vulnerable of places, as she explores the long and complex journey of healing, she works her way around the guitar with the gentlest of abilities, only matched and embodied by rare contemporaries such as Josephine Foster and Jessica Pratt.
Marking the halfway point of Enchanted Sea is Saga’s Lullaby, a song that invites total attention before it places you exactly where required, that being a folk-infused landscape. Camille is at her most hypnagogic here, armed only with a story of oceanside mystery and the delicate sound of her ever-reliable guitar. The title track, Enchanted Sea, is one to rock the boat, injecting a change of pace, feeling like an epic at just under six and a half minutes long, “Hold my breath and I submerge. Deeper and deeper till I see the abyss”, the anchor is very much thrown down here as we enter siren song territory.
J’ai rêvé will live and die as essential listening for the year ahead, one of two songs written in Camille’s French mother tongue. It’s one of those tracks that sounds completely out of time and space in the best way possible; it’s hard to hear the song and to not immediately think of it as a lost French classic of an era long gone by. This is equally true of Piano Song, Camille’s operatic vocals complementing a long and winding piano piece.
In life, we are taught that eventually everything must return to the sea, and this is signposted by the fittingly minimal Humming Song. When the waves come and collect the rocks from the shore, there is no great fuss, and the final track, being six minutes of Camille humming a touching melody, is a great case of life imitating art and vice versa.
A rare kind of impact has been generated on this album; it may fly over the heads of popular consensus, but for those who are touched by the magic inside, they will understand that Camille’s body of work is something to hold on to, an album perfect for accompanying all walks of life.
Enchanted Sea (May 29th, 2026) Labelman
Order via Bandcamp: https://camillecamillemusic.bandcamp.com/album/enchanted-sea