Articles Written By: guuzbourg

More Coeur

Mark writes:

As well as the stunning music of ‘Child of Light’, Coeur de Pirate has recorded a new interpretation of Renaud’s 1986 classic ‘Mistral gagnant’. (History of song is here…)

Béatrice was specially chosen by the veteran writer and singer to lead the album of modern covers of his compositions (by Carla Bruni, Elodie Frégé, Nolwenn Leroy, and more) with this song:

The unusual lyrics, and an English translation, can be found below the Youtube film of CdP’s version. The full album will be issued in June.

A live 1988 interpretation of ‘Mistral gagnant’ by Renaud himself is here

La Grande Sophie was the last top singer to tackle this classic, in 2012. She sang it both solo on France Inter, and in duet with Matthieu Boogaerts on ‘Taratata’.

However it is not (yet) on an LGS album, so Filles Sourires gives the best links to her covers of the song.

More proof of Béatrice’s outstanding skill has come with the release onto the web of her full ‘Taratata’ appearance on 28 February last. The 2014 ‘Taratata’ format is a short programme, still with a duet in the middle. Remarkably, CdP performed four songs – two from ‘Trauma’ in English, ‘You know I’m no good’ and ‘Dead Flowers’, one duet with a male artiste, Tété, and ‘Place de la République’ –all at the piano. See HERE

Béatrice is off the stage only between 18m00s and 24m00s in the 33-minute programme. Don’t miss the standing ovation she receives after ‘You know I’m no good’ which brings her to tears; and an interesting interview with the presenter Nagui, where she speaks ‘Parisian’ French as Canadians call it (and so can be understood). Her appearance and poise show how she has changed from the little blonde girl of 2009 to a striking woman, 25 this September, with all the style in hair and dress that Paris offers!

Also good is ‘Dead Flowers’ sung with guitar on ice-rink in Paris with skaters swirling around her.

Plaza Francia

  • Posted on 08/05/2014
  • /Under Video

You probably recognize her voice instantly, don’t you? If not, check out who Plaza Francia is HERE

Salomé Leclerc

75070_582195428473580_2085063339_nCan’t you stop raving about the filles from Québec?! You might ask yourself. Well, no. They keep surprising and pleasuring us with great tracks. So why quit? Take sultry Salomé Leclerc. We (well, Maks did, credit’s due) spotted her back in 2010. We raved about her debut: “The guitar-driven songs are the perfect field for her voice to play on and simultaneously kidnap the listeners mind to drop it somewhere under the trees.” Somehow we missed her Le vent nous portera cover. We loved her bass-heavy, ‘dark tranquility’ chansons. And now she’s announced a new album in September, and just released a vinyl single (and mp3s) with two new songs. Arlon, a song that might be about the village (but probably isn’t), is the winner. Again, it’s bass-heavy, drenched in echo, there’s a soulful tambourine and there’s electronica. It’s cold wave on a stove. It’s like making tender love on a concrete floor in an abandoned industrial complex.

Salomé Leclerc – Arlon (link works now)

Mark adds:

Salomé Leclerc is a great stage performer. Here are her best live performances in 2013 at Festivoix, Trois-Rivières (July) and Parc Marcel-Léger, Montreal (August).

At Festivoix here are ‘Partir ensemble’

and click HERE for Caméleon and HERE for ‘Garde-moi collée’

See how she manages with a supporting band of just two, who play multiple intruments. A short interview with Salomé is here

In memory of the famous (unrelated) Québec writer and singer Félix Leclerc (1914-1988) she sang his nostalgic ‘La Gaspésie’.

Salomé is appearing at the Festival Pully-Québec in Switzerland in June along with some other FS favourites – notably Ingrid St-Pierre, Les Soeurs Boulay and Catherine Major. The festival is held in Pully, a suburb of Lausanne, every two years. This may be the only opportunity to see these artistes in Europe in 2014. If you are in Suisse Romande next month, don’t miss it.

Nevche

Guestpost by Adrian:

In 2009, when I was doing a web radio show thingy (whaddya mean, you weren’t listening?!?!), I was in touch with Marseilles band Nevchehirlian about their debut album, Monde Nouveau, Monde Ancien. Led by poet and writer Frédéric Nevchehirlian, the record was full of strong sensual driving guitar songs. After that they took an interesting sideways turn with Le Soleil Brille Pour Tout le Monde, which mixed the band’s music with unpublished poems by Jacques Prévert.
Now their latest record, Rétroviseur, is out, under the shortened name Nevche (because pronouncing five syllables is soooo hard, right? *rolls eyes*) and it’s utterly beguiling. It’s a late-night record, full of restraint and elegance, nowhere more so than in this haunting track Vas-tu Freiner? It’s the sort of song that has you playing it repeatedly until you realise the evening’s disappeared. The beautiful video features a mysterious woman, an old Peugeot 504, an owl and a horse. What more could you want?

Benjamin Schoos feat. April March

  • Posted on 30/04/2014
  • /Under Musique

It’s not hard to love Benjamin Schoos, the Wallonic replacement of Serge Gainsbourg on earth. Just give it a try. Listen to his new EP, featuring that duet with Laetitia Sadier, and this great track with the ultra-lovely April March:

More? Here.

Chloé Lacasse

  • Posted on 20/04/2014
  • /Under Musique

(Steve J is now an official author of FillesSourires! Hooray!)

Back in 2011 I stumbled across the eponymous debut album from that year’s Francouvertes winner Chloé Lacasse, an album that managed to seamlessly encompass rock, pop, tender ballads and even threw-in a few Bristollian trip-hop beats – and in “Tout va bien” featured one killer of a contender for song of the year… Fast forward to 2014 and the release of “Lunes”, the theoretically oh-so-difficult sophomore album…
Lacasse
If her debut album seemed to touch all musical bases, “Lunes” sees Chloé focused on a more adult and mature, thoughtful sound. Gone is the “turn the volume up all the way to eleven” – this time it’s those pure and crystalline vocals that were hinted at previously which take centre-stage – the music complements rather than competes for attention. Moreover the clever use of percussion, strings, keyboards – even an auto-harp – help create a more tranquil, trance-like and atmospheric sound than the album’s predecessor; Coupled with Chloé’s ethereal and at times haunting voice, the end result is the most compelling of albums…

From the opening bars of the aforementioned auto-harp that resonates throughout “Rien pour moi” – a deliciously troubling portrayal of an emotionally challenged relationship – you realise that you are listening to something rather special. The songs on this album demand attention – the lyrics have a truly biographical feel and every song on this album sets a scene as a narrative unfurls.

On an album choc-full of stand-out compositions, it is perhaps remiss to highlight a mere handful of songs here, however the way that “Écoute sans parler” and the effortlessly way that the song ploughs a similar psychedelic furrow to two of last year’s standout albums – Hôtel Morphée’s “Des histoires de fantômes” and Forêt ‘s stunning eponymous debut; “Un oiseau dans la vitre” – and it’s wonderfully uplifting and soaring chorus and “Le piège” – all hypnotic grove and emotional rawness – all hint at how truly outstanding an album this is.

There’s a perfect synergy with lyricism and melody on display here; the end result is a truly outstanding album that deserves to be in any discerning record collection. Lunes” was released in the same week as Catherine Leduc’s “Rookie” – an album that I’ve just rated as year-list material. I’d argue that this album is proof that lightening does indeed strike twice.

Chloé Lacasse – Rien pour moi

?Alice!

  • Posted on 19/04/2014
  • /Under Musique

Regular guestposter David B. bumped into a hidden Quebecois treasure…

Wandering off the usual beat, a couple of years ago I came across ?Alice! and sought out their two released CD’s, “Divagation Douce” and “Baisers Allumette”. There’s a third, “Ce soir on mange les restes”, not released, that was at one time offered for free on their website. I can’t find it now. Or anything at all online, for that matter.
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?Alice! made something of a splash on the Quebecois music circuit in 2001, with a garage band sound and Esther Teman’s filles fragile voice, sort of Ramones, Pixies and perhaps a hint of Gainsbourg. Well, considering one of the tracks is a cover of “Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son” (slow and melancholy, starting with the sound of falling rain – I was prepared to not like it, but it seems to work somehow, and has grown on me over time), more than a hint of Gainsbourg I guess. The songwriting was mostly Vladimir Garand, and the first CD features some of his vocals (not recommended, but “Caracoule” is okay), but ?Alice! featured Esther much more heavily on the second CD.

There’s not much information ready to hand on ?Alice!, but here’s a nice article on them from their first year.

On “Divagation Douce”, a hard CD to find and roughly half of the songs are a hard go, “Polyester” and “Muse and Musette” are favorites. I much prefer their second CD (used copies are more readily found). On “Baisers Allumette”, “Tigresse” and “Le son etrange” I like best.

?Alice! – Poupée de cire, poupée de son
?Alice! – Le son étrange
?Alice! – Tigresse

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