They recorded the albumLa Ballade d'O over the next 18 months. Quinones also went into the studio with Lou Reed around this time and cut an Anglo/French version of "Sunday Morning" under the name 'Vanessa St James ft Lou Reed'. The O's album was finally finished in 2005 when Pelle Gunnerfeldt was brought in for additional production and mixes, bringing in Per Nordmark on drums and Bjorn Ytlling for additional keyboards. The self-financed album was licensed initially to Virgin/EMI Sweden in May 2005 for Scandinavian release only. In September 2005, the imported debut was Album Of The Week in London record storeRough Trade who described it as "...a fantastic album of ‘European cool’ with breathy vocals over music which sounds like The Concretes, Stereolab or a modern take on the Velvet Underground…" and in 2006 the band released La Ballade on their own Rushmore Recordings label headed up by ex Warner Bros A&R executive and Deaf School founder member Steve Allen. By Summer 2007, it was available physically in France, Japan, Thailand, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, as well as digitally distributed.
Reception
La Ballade received great critical acclaim. In France, the influential rock critic Nicolas Ungemuth reviewed it favourably for Le Figaro and the magazine Rock & Folk. The band also received rave reviews from the other leading French music writers at Les Inrockuptibles, Magic, and Rolling Stone. The album received a year-in-review award from Le Figaro.
2007 onwards
In 2006, Vanessa Quinones was the guest vocalist on Scott Walker's album The Drift. The O's also played live at shows in Sweden, France, Japan, Holland and the UK through 2006-2010.
2007 saw The O's invited to participate in the all-star musical tribute to legendary composer Ennio Morricone alongside Bruce Springsteen, Metallica, Yo Yo Ma, Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock and Ennio Morricone. "We All Love Ennio Morricone" features Vanessa & The O's rendition of the Morricone/Françoise Hardy classic "Je Changerais d'Avis".
In 2008/9 Vanessa started her solo project Vanessa presents Allez Pop!, her first fully French language album in what would become a series of 60's influenced French pop and Yeh Yeh recordings. Original songs from the album included "Pres de Toi", "C'est Magnifique". "Oddysee", "Quand Tu Me Dis", Pourquoi Pas and Bon Bon Bon and appeared on many international French pop and lounge compilations between 2009 and 2012. The title track Bon Bon Bon garnered excellent press reviews from number one French culture and music mag Les Inrocks and Rolling Stone France amongst many others. It was also featured in the soundtrack of several movies including 'Lionsgate Films' action/rom-com Killers featuring Ashton Kutcher.
Between 2009 and 2011 Vanessa and Andreas Mattsson found time between other recording commitments to begin writing new songs and recording demo's in London and Stockholm later bringing in Robyn keyboardist/programmer Markus Jagerstedt to finalise production work on the second Vanessa & The O's album. Final mixes were again undertaken by Pelle Gunnerfeldt and Markus in Stockholm.
March 2012, EMI Music released the James Iha cover version of the Vanessa & The O's song Till Next Tuesday, taken from Iha's second solo album Look To The Sky. The single peaked at number 8 on the Japan Billboard Hot 100.
August 2012, the second Vanessa & The O's album Stories For Watering Skies is released by Bootrock Records in Japan only. The 11 track album available on CD and Digital download is listed by Tower Records Tokyo with a release date of August 8, 2012.
April 2013 French label Grand Palais/Modulor released the single L'Air Entre Nous, taken from the European version of new album Stories For Watering Skies which features additional French language title Vivre. The album has been released in France and Europe the 16 April 2013 receiving rave reviews in the French press from Rock & Folk, Rock First and Magic. Rock & Folk's Nicolas Ungemuth had this to say :
Discography
Plus Rien
La Ballade d' O
La Ballade d'O Japanese version with 4 extra tracks
We All Love Ennio Morricone
Filles Fragiles Vol 2 1 track
La Ballade d'O Digital European version with 4 bonus tracks
