Project Gemini feat. Wendy Martinez

Project Gemini = producer Paul Osborne. First album The Children of Scorpio (2022) is a dazzling world of folk rock, psych soundtracks and hazy cinematic funk.

On his upcoming second album, two tracks are blessed by the sultry, smokey French vocals of Wendy Martinez, ‘Extra Nuit’ and ‘Entre chien et loup’. The former echoes Paul’s love of classic French psych-pop from the late ’60s and early ’70s and artists such as Laurance Vanay, Calcium, Leonie, and Serge Gainsbourg. You can hear the Serge-reference immediatly in that fat, plopping bass-sound. Love this a lot. (Wendy was featured here before, see?)

Donna Blue

Second album by Utrecht-based, Dutch retro-duo Donna Blue. In the new songs (in French and English) you still hear ye-ye and sweet 60s pop (Nancy & Lee), but in this interview (in Dutch) they say jazz, more specific bossa jazz (Laurindo Almeida, who made a FANTASTIC album with Stan Getz in 1966, one of my all time favorite records) is an influence. Not that much in the two French songs, of which the dreamy ‘Mains de l’amour’ a real gem.

Barbara Rivage

Second feature on French duo Barbara Rivage (Roxane Argouin, Vivien Tacinelli). The debut album ‘Tout sera beau’ is out, and it’s a cool one. Fresh, bit dark, danceable. I hear Les Rita Mitsouko as much as Françoise Hardy (as Clara Luciani, with lesser disco input), but these two aren’t copycats, no sir. Love Roxane’s low voice, the funky basslines, the electronics. Two examples of their greatness:

Bibi Club

Canadian duo Bibi Club are on my radar for quite some time, but oddly enough, I never posted about their upbeat indiepop on this blog. The duo formed by Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque, they can be tender, emotional and very very joyous. It’s modern day pop music, with electronics, guitars, beats.

New single:

Mira Zoff

Thanks to fellow French pop aficionado Steve J, here’s a small feature on Swiss singer Mira Zoff. Steve tipped me her EP, released last year, and the new single (alas not on Bandcamp). Mira has a soothing sweet voice, makes indie(ish) pop with nods to Vanessa Paradis and Feist. I’d say ‘Vampire’ is a step up from the charming EP. Mira’s one to watch.

Ëda Diaz

Something different, but something really beautiful now, this French track by French-Colombian bassist Ëda Diaz. Suave Bruta is her debut-album, with a modern feel (electronics, samples, etc) but nods to the great Afro-Colombian musical tradition too. Check out the catcy Al Pelo, to get a good taste. Really colourful album. The last song is a slow burner in French:

Lonny

So, in 2021, we said, hey, there’s this singer called Lonny, she’s from Quebec, oops, no, she’s from France, and she’s an artist to watch. Keep track of Lonny! And then, we didn’t follow our own advice. So now, in 2024, we have to catch up. Lonny released an album (Ex-Voto, on Bandcamp HERE), and an EP, with reworked versions of song on her debut album, live tracks, demo’s. Her sultry, yet powerful voice is something else. There’s classic chanson in her voice, deep Americana and Stereolab’ish experiment. This is my favorite new track:

The guitars, the ethereal vibe of this song, reminded me of this Filles Sourires fave by Lisa Portelli:

De Flore

Sultry electronic bossanova by Canadian bedroom-pop duo De Flore: