Lady Palavas

Guestpost! Natasha Oh-La-La on Lady Palavas:

After months of delay, Lady Palavas’ second album ‘Les Grandes Vacances’, released on 14 April 2010 made it to my Amsterdam doorstep the very same day, thanks to nice bass player, Francis Miche. Not only did feel privileged, but I also discovered that my name was in the liner notes!
Lady Palavas from Montpellier, France are very sixties influenced in their choice of song material, look and instrumentation, yet very modern and groovy style inspired with the cannabis movement, now has evolved and you can find it in many forms in Exhale. Songs like ‘Agent Secret’ on their first album and now ‘Casino Royale’ (my favourite, but then I’m a James Bond fan) show a progression, while ‘Le charme anglais’ (‘English charm’) has this Carnaby Street, tweed quality to it. Then there’s Katia Plachez’s Brigitte Bardot like dresses and quirky voice along with some Burt Bacharach trumpet, organ solos and fuzzy guitars to enjoy with your cocktail. The CD comes with a very catchy song and video ‘Le piège du télésiège’ (‘The trap of the ski lift’), which evokes James Bond going off to Gstaad to go skiing even though the video was shot in the summer. To remind us it’s 2010 and not 1966, the song “Je, Myspace et moi” (‘Me, Myspace and I’), is obviously a huge tongue in cheek critique of the famous music site and about being ‘the world’s bellybutton’ as French actress Jeanne Moreau would sing.
My wish list for album number three would be some remixes and a few more harder numbers (the DJ in me talking), but hey, one thing at a time. I love Lady Palavas’ humour, which is why I keep buying their albums.

Lady Palavas – Le piège du télésiège
Lady Palavas – Casino Royale