Giorgio Tuma

Laetitia Sadier

Ghost-voiced chanteuse and Stereolab Moog manipulator, philosopher, student of Blondie and Buckminster Fuller

The record that made me want to be a singer was The Smiths' first album [in 1984]. I was about 16, living in France at the time, and heard This Charming Man. For three days it was going round on a loop in my head. I was already into Young Marble Giants and The Residents and Joy Division, but hearing The Smiths was the missing part for me. I felt that I had to act on this now.

One of my Desert Island Discs would be Jorge Ben'sA Tdbua De Esmeralda [1974]. It's the one that has all the cryptic little drawings on the cover. For me it's magical, because I really believe in the alchemic function of music. Music can transform you chemically, it can regenerate you. And this record always has that effect whenever I play it.

We moved around when I was a child, and when we lived in America in the late '70S, disco happened. Disco was a social phenomenon and I was very taken with it. I remember Blondie's Heart Of Glass being a big hit and it was a religious moment when it was on the radio. I was completely penetrated by this music.

More recently I've discovered an Italian man called Giorgio Tuma, who brought out In The Morning We'llMeet last year. It's extremely gentle and beautiful music. It's very arranged and super-sophisticated, but in a kind of naked way, which I adore. I share this record with as many people as I can and everyone is seduced at some point. Giorgio actually wrote to me on Facebook recently and asked ifI'd sing on this beautiful song he'd written. He didn't even know that I loved h is album.