Les Soeurs Boulay
Guestpost! Steve on the new Les Soeurs Boulay album:
So my eagerly awaited event this month is the release of Les Soeurs Boulay’s debut album ‘Le poids des confettis’ (The weight of confetti). Regular readers may already know that since I discovered their eponymous EP, I have been deeply enamoured with the angelic crispness of the girls’ vocal harmonies… But would the album live up to my expectations? I’ve placed Gaspé’s Melanie and Stéphanie Boulay on such a high pedestal that if they were to slip they’d be surely shattered into a thousand pieces…
One listen and any fears have long since been dispelled. The girls’ haunting melodies are still there to the fore, but there’s a new found certain assuredness which can be discerned not only in the reinterpretation of the songs off their earlier EP, but also those debuting on this album. There’s an added depth and warmth to the rhythmic melodies which as always complements the fresh clarity of the sisters’ vocal style – none more so than on “Un trou noir au bout d’un appât”
There’s more than a hint of early Simon and Garfunkel, especially the way their voices are almost telepathically intertwined (Check out there cover of “The Boxer” here), and on “Chanson de Route”, there’s the added benefit of highlighting that the girls sound as fresh (and yes, “fragile”) in English as they do French.
Ultimately this is an album chock full of songs about love, life, heartbreak. At times intimate and introverted (“Mappemonde”), others bold and extrovert (“Ôte-moi mon linge”), sometimes almost downright danceable – certainly in a toe-tapping kind of way (“Par Le Chignon de Cou”). All with faintest of country-folk tinges that makes you yearn for the ruggedness of the Atlantic coastline.
It’s March and already I have a pretty good idea as to my album of the year 2013. Check it out for yourselves as it can be streamed here – until the album’s official release.
Les Soeurs Boulay – Par le chignon de cou
Exquisite, really. This duo is the real thing and you do not overstate their talent. Thanks so much for this discovery.
The album ‘Le poids des confettis’ went on sale on 26 March – go to http://lessoeursboulay.bandcamp.com/
Video of single ‘Par le chignon du cou’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UugPrqsFsw&feature=youtu.be
evidently shot in winter 2013 in Québec
Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/soeursboulay
The full album can be heard still, streamed at this website. The production quality is excellent, taking Melanie and Stéphanie to a new level, above the enthusiastic but variable live clips on YouTube.
The CD can be bought with immediate download to MP3 – $Can 12.00. Price to France Eur9.18 + post Eur6.50 = Eur15.68. For Great Britain, £7.79 + £4.54 = £12.33
Les Soeurs Boulay concert list up to June is also on the website. Unfortunately all in QC so far.
No comment on les Boulays yet from Coeur de Pirate ! Watch twitter.com/beatricepirate . CdP is usually full of praise even for potential rivals….
To Reader – you may like to look at similar film of Expo 67 at Montreal set to the the Expo song ‘Ca-Na-Da’ (bilingual if you listen carefully).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vE17TazIvM
The ‘Top comment’ starts “OMG this makes me SOOOO nolstalgic. I can’t get over how futuristic Expo ’67 was – the way everything looked, and the way everybody looked – a very stylish, experimental age. Unlike, um, you know… the Age of Reduced Expectations.”
Another version at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18-oRTLIe3I
People who visited Expo as children and some who performed the song have posted comments like Reader’s response to the film of the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair.
To marksl, I left a very tardy but lengthy, effusive, exuberant, & truly heart-felt 2-part thank you for the link to the Seattle World’s Fair video in the comments section for the 22/02/2013 post titled ‘ New Vanessa Contenay-Quinones video ‘ . For historical, nostalgic reasons, it touched me. Since the post was already very old, I realise that you might very well not have received it. ( Top 2 comments on page . ) Thank you !
–reader
Superb. The wonderful Québec singing voice has rarely been better used than by the Boulay sisters. The streamed album tracks are well-produced; also worth a look is YouTube film of the sisters live. It shows their charm and skill even when the performances (and sound) are less than perfect.
Coeur de Pirate, Catherine Major and Marie-Pierre Arthur (MPA being herself from the Gaspé) all sing in standard French, aiming for the European market (which CdP has conquered). Les Soeurs Boulay with their resonant Gaspé voices do not seem to be going for it. But let’s hope for some appearances in France.
Béatrice and Marie-Pierre must be glad that they have reached ‘lift off’ in time to put themselves out of reach of this next generation of singer-songwriters. In La Belle Province there is always someone new coming along to push you aside….
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