Light the campfires, take out the marshmallows: Marie-Pierre Arthur made an acoustic album, and she revisits her best songs as singalongs, best enjoyed near campfires, roastin’ those marshmallows. A big fave in my book is MPA’s take on 70s yacht rock (think Doobies, think Pages), Rien à faire. And with just voices and acoustic guitars, it still says summer in faded colours (which is a good thing):
Very cool, rock-ish new track by Yoa:
What do you expect of a song about summer love? Breeziness and bossa nova? Lighthearted and lush? Or somber dreampop with a dollop of psychedelica? If yer into the latter, Fanny Luzignant (yes, she of La Femme) got you covered with a track that starts dreamy, but builds to a guitaristic crescendo.
Been singing the praise of Grand Eugene for a while, today they released a cool surprise: reigning queen of Quebec Pop, Ariane Moffatt, released a remix version of GE’s Cimetière. And it’s quite the rebuild. I’m not spoiling it for you, but you might wanna turn up the bass around the 2.30 minute mark…
Cléa Vincent has been featured on this blog a lot less than I could remember, been listening to her warm, breezy pop (with lots of tropical influences, but also some 80s synthpop) for a while now. This duet with Montreal’s Felix Dyotte is certainly feature worthy. Starts tender, gets some glitter along the way.
The song explores themes of traveling (“par-delà l’océan”), questioning who awaits on the other side (“quelqu’un qui nous attend”), and finding calm versus seeking change (“une nouvelle vague”). It reflects on moving away to flee worries (“fuir mes soucis”) and seeking new experiences (“voir ce que tu ne connais pas”).
It’s about 30 degrees Celsius in Amsterdam, so it’s time to look at summer singles. One of the names that caught my eye was Mitsou. Canadian cult heroine from the 80s, she updated a single from the 90s.
This is the new version, with added rap, latin vibes, summer breezy:
This is the 1994 version, and yes that’s a Perez Prado sample, five years BEFORE Lou Bega used it in Mambo No. 5:
And this is the indestructible 80s classic by Mitsou:
As you know, voices are very important by selecting tracks for this weblog. And Opaline‘s sad but sultry vocals immediatly struck a chord. So did her atmospherical, new wave-ish electronic music – I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the cover of her new EP has some Stranger Things design overtones. I really like the more danceable ADN, but do try the other tracks too.
From Lyon, Clementine Weck released several songs and an EP (since 2024). Her voice has the right amount of melancholy (think Tanya Donelly), in her songs ‘it’s good to fall in order to get up again. Looking for the beauty in failure, the sweetness in pain.’ There’s a nice indie pop vibe, and new single Marcelle cherie builds to a fierce ending.
It seems to me that Franco-Italian singer Adèle Luisa‘s mission is to befuddle all of us with lush, laidback and leisurely songs that spark images of sultry beaches, fresh young coconuts and swaying palm trees. Take this floating airbed of a song, En Sous-Marin:
Or take this relaxing track:
More Adèle Luisa on this blog, here.