80s style syntified pop sounds, bring ‘m on. Flora Fishbach has a very cool new single, from her recent album, that could’ve been a hit like Voyage Voyage or C’est La Ouate back in the day. But here, now, it fits in very well too:
Articles Written By: guuzbourg
François & Yasmine
When François Marry, driving force behind François & The Atlas Mountains, was in preparation of the Âge Fleuve album, he listened to a lot of river-themed songs. Like Take Me To The River by Talking Heads (or better, Al Green) and La Rivière by Olivier Marguerit. The one river-song that stood out, was River Man by tragic folkhero Nick Drake, he writes on instagram. I’m always envious of people who haven’t heard of Nick, for discovering his music, his legacy, is such a bittersweet joy (he died very young, alas, but he made at least three albums that are masterpieces).
Longstoryshort: François translated River Man to French, and asked singer Yasmine Hamdan to join him on his wonderful rework.
If you want more River Man-covers, I made a playlist with over 4 hours of versions.
Charlotte Cardin
It’s pop, sure. It has a firm beat. But it also has that voice. Charlotte Cardin delivers yet another very strong song, that makes you jump up & dance, and cry. Sad banger, anyone?
Vanille
Second single from the upcoming new Vanille (the Canadian Vanille, not Julien Clerc’s fille) album. DAMN FINE slice of soul & sunshine pop. That album’s gonna turn out very cool:
Célia Kameni
Gorgeous, intense live version of De doute et de joie by Célia Kameni. A singer of Cameroonian origin, who sang with all kinds of artists and has had a musical upbringing that made her familiar with anything between opera and jazz. Read more on Célia (in English) here. This is a track from her recently released EP, the only French track. She has an incredible, rich voice that aims for the heartstrings.
I heard of her first thanks to Italian groove collective Nu Genea:
She’s also the singer in this laidback track:
Coline BLF
She already released a song called Luna, and now there’s the very laidback and sunny (!) song called La Lune. More proof that Coline BLF is one of the most interesting new voices in French pop:
Simone d’Opale
Nantes-based trio Simone d’Opale release an EP in September, which I’m looking forward to. The singles they released so far are very interesting; singer Manon Claude has that fine sultry voice I love, they used old synth sounds and are not afraid to space out. Sultry synthetic space sounds. Cool motto. Check for instance this dreamy track:
More recent is the even fiercer Belle Journée, that starts like a Kraftwerk-track, and gets more psych along the way:
San James
French pop with a soft 70s vibe; as you know, I’m all for it. San James, the moniker of Canadienne Marilyse Senecal, hits all the right spots with this Steelydannish groove: