Pop melancosolaire – wish I had thought of that tag. But Majora, Alexis & Maeva from Lyon, made it up for their understated disco pop. A new EP has just been released, ideal for shuffling your feet on a sunny day.
Musique
Fleur de Peau
From Quebec City, Canada, it’s the duo Fleur de Peau. On their Bandcamp page, it says that it’s a musical synth-pop project. Pop, sure. But with lots of dream pop guitars, at least on this new album. Listen to this track, that nods to the 80s, there is a synth present, and that wonderful high-pitched voice of Elle Dubois-Sénéchal (her musical partner is Louis Fernandez). There are also more folksy, acoustic songs on this very versatile album.
Eleonore Dessureault
Her name has a musical ring to it, Canadienne Eleonore Dessureaults first album has jazzy, folky vibes and (to me) sounds like Dutch songstress Janne Schra found a vocal family member across the ocean.
Eleonore writes songs that are piano driven, and give way to her wonderful, almost free style way of singing. References, apart from Janne Schra, are Emily Loizeau and (early) Feist. Her lyrics are very poetic, I love the title of the this track: The embrace of lost bodies.
La Bronze
Beautiful track by Montreal-based singer La Bronze, about being hyper-sensitive. To words, feelings, emotions, moods. Electronically charged, ominous and sensual at the same time.
Meimuna
Meimuna describes her music as ‘delicate folk in French’ (check her insta), which is true, but she’s adding beats and fx to that delicacy. ‘Nuits blanches’, the new single, has that trance-like build up (around 2m20s) that makes you wanna throw up both your hands, wailing. Before that moment, it’s Cyrielle Formaz’ voice (for she is Meimuna) that’s taking the spotlight: soothing, comforting. If Cyrille was a Swiss chocolate bar, I’d buy a warehouse of stock. By the way: there’s a big Dutch influence on this track (and others), with Ella van der Woude producing and playing, Nicky Hustinx and Nana Adjoa on drums and bass, and the mixing is also done by hands from the Lowlands. Which is nice.
Viragezero
It’s the hard funkin’ bassline that draws immediate attention. The melancholy-filled, eighties-referring female vocals are a high point too. As is the head nodding beat. That Viragezero is inspired by 90s abstract hip hop and electronica-overlords like Boards of Canada, also a big plus.
From the bio: ‘Viragezero is a new Geneva-based project born from the meeting of several musicians well known on the local scene. Around the brother and sister duo of Citron Citron (Zoé and Augustin Sjollema) gather two former members of L’Éclair (Sébastien Bui and Elie Ghersinu, also a member of Magic & Naked) and a musician from Magic & Naked (Léonard Persoz). Five trajectories intersect here to form a new sonic constellation, somewhere between dreamy electronica, hazy guitars and rhythms inherited from trip hop.’
Let’s follow this lot very closely.
Jérôme & Salomé
Salomé Leclerc has a modest role on the new Jérôme Minière single, but anything with Salomé is worthy of posting here. Plus, it’s a cool song, about a calculator. Or, maybe, about trusting the machines a little too much (hello ChatGPT).
Rosie Valland
‘Confession/Ces jours-ci/Je m’affale/Comme un naufrage.’ Makes two of us, Rosie, in these dark days of destruction, I too feel like I’n collapsing (affale) like a shipwreck (naufrage). Good thing Montreal’s Rosie Valland put the song to a very uplifting dance beat: when all else fails, you can still dance. I hope.
Dopamoon, Alice Boccara
No relation to Frida Boccara, as far as I know, but Alice Boccara’s Sprechgesang on this very funky track by Dopamoon is both sexy and playful. The track reminds me, because of the ‘allez danse’ line, of -M-‘s Machistador.