Le Grand Bateau

A girl singing a folksy tune in French, with added Hammond, clavinet, rockabilly-guitar and a nod to Yves Montand’s A Bicyclette. That you gotta hear, right? The girl’s called Aster van Vaerenbergh, who’s a very talented cartoon-artist as well (she made a graphic novel about Elizabeth Bathory). She made the drawings on and in the debut album of Belgium-based Le Grand Bateau, named after cruiseships that sailed the seven seas and had bands on board to entertain the well-dressed holiday-makers. LGB is influenced by classic chanson, tango, folk, 60s pop and whatnot. You can hear these are experienced musicians (pianist Yves Meersschaert was part of many bands, he also conducts the Propere Fanfere, counting 100 members! But LGB keeps it more intimate, just the way we like it over here.

Le Grand Bateau – Vava