Video
Sophie Vaillancourt
Another guestpost by David! Woo!
After disappearing for a few years since reaching the finals of Star Académie in 2009, Sophie Vaillancourt has her first album, “Histoires de filles et de garçons”. Sophie opted not to take the risk of pursuing a full time career in music right away, completing her degree in elementary school education from the University of Montreal, earning the money to put herself through school by modeling. She looks nothing at all like any of my grade school teachers.
For her album, Sophie wrote half the songs herself, poppy songs with bright melodies and a tinge of melancholy to the lyrics, exhibiting a clear ’60’s influence (think Simon and Garfunkel). She worked with David Brunet, a name some might recognize from his work with Coeur de Pirate or Tricot Machine. There’s a nice article that discusses how this came to be here. My favorite song from the CD, “Danser Sous La Pluie”, leads off.
For fun, here is a snippet of another favorite, “Alors J’irai”, sung by Sophie with her class. I can’t find any videos for her album, other than this promo, but the camera loves her, so it’s highly likely her label will make it happen eventually.
P.S.: It’s been a pretty good year for filles fragiles – here’s a video from Brigitte Saint-Aubin’s new album, “Glamour”.
Sophie Vaillancourt – Pour lui plaire
Sophie Vaillancourt – Les sentiers regrettés
New Olivia Ruiz video
Acoustic version:
Loureb & K
On the cover, she looks like Françoise Hardy. Lou-Rebecca teamed up with K, aka Etienne Kerber of Les Shades, to record an EP called Born in the 90s featuring tracks inspired by music (Dylan) and films from the 60s (Truffaut, Rohmer, Godard). To confuse you even more, I’d like to add the compliment of compliments on this site: ‘Lio-esque’. Which means some tracks on that EP have that sweet smelling bubblegum 80s flavour. Anyhoo – watch and listen and think of your own reference.
See more of Lou-Rebecca here, more Loureb & K here and here.
Loureb & K – Nouvelle Vague
Opposite Sex
We usually keep it plushy, soft-focussed and hoarse on this blog. But every now and then, we take a walk down the stairs, to the humid cellar, where things happen outside of the sun. Where bands like Liminanas play, Melody’s Echo Chamber and Granville. And New Zealand trio Opposite Sex. Alas, singer Lucy Hunter doesn’t sing in French, unless you count “au revoir, la rat…” as French (that should either be ‘La Rate’ or ‘Le Rat’). But hey, her voice is deliciously breathy, the music’s banging and clunking like a garbage truck (I mean that as a compliment) and when you call a track Mary Lu, you sure know your Gainsbourgian speak. Lucy also played the trumpet solo at the end of Connan Mockasin’s Serge-ish ‘It’s Choade my Dear’ as well as keyboards on other tracks on Connan’s album ‘Forever Dolphin Love’.
This is music that hides from the light, that breeds in the dark. Opposite sex, indeed.
Trois minutes à Dystopia
How could we miss out on this one? La Femme‘s Paris 2012 fuses proto-punk, surf attitude and 80s synth-pop into a razor-sharp garage cyberpop experience. Doubtless one of the most intriguing videos of the year, and super chouette apocalyptic fun.