Camille
Camille’s mocking the Edith Piaf-singing style on her new album, Ilo Veyou. In a song in which she sings France is recycling it’s past like a photocopier. On paper it’s quite funny. When you actually hear the song, it’s funny too. One time. Easily one of the most anticipated new albums this year, Camille’s fourth album is a tad disappointing. Yes, there’s vocal trickery (Bubble Lady, about her pregnancy, and the child choir in Allez Allez Allez), but there are ‘normal’ songs as well. Sung in English and French. Some almost sound 17th Century, like Message. She Was sounds like a leftover from Feist’s latest album. Most of the time, the music is very basic: guitar, strings, voice. This works beautifully in Le Berger and Le Banquet. The title track, with it’s upright bass and vocal workout, is a flashback to Music Hole. I saw her on the Music Hole tour, and was blown away by the performance, the vocals, the percussion, her charisma. I still cherish this as one of the best concerts I ever saw. But now, when I hear her gasp, puff and sigh in Tout dit or Ilo Veyou, it’s kind of annoying. Yes, the girl can sing. Yes, she can do whatever she wants with her voice. But write good, solid songs, like Les Ex from her debut, or Au Port from Le Fil, that seems harder and harder for Camille.
Read an English interview with Camille here. And here.
Camille – La France
For me, this is the best album of Camille. Le banquet, le berger, She was, Wet boy, L’etourderie, Mars is no fun are definitely the best parts. I saw her performing live in a chapel all these songs of this album and it was just perfect. Ok it is more intimate than before, but I can not be agree when you say that the song were solider in the past. I think these songs will last much much longer….
The album is a bit disappointing its true, but only because of high expectations, and will still feature in lots of end of year top 10 lists. I agree that most of the french songs are probably not even as good as the bonus tracks from Le Fil, and there’s no english track that approaches the astonishing “money note” from the last album. Indeed, I saw her in Dunkerque on the last tour and it was superb, even her rendition of “too drunk to fuck” by the dead kennedys, which raised an eyebrow. But I still miss the more subtle Camille of the first album and nothing beats her solo “la demeure d’un ciel” from TV5’s acoustic. my favorite live Fille clip of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqzv3nVEkeI