Catherine Leduc
Better known for being the female half of acclaimed Canadian folk-pop duo Tricot Machine, "Rookie" is the debut solo album from singer-songwriter Catherine Leduc.
Despite the fact that Matthieu Beaumont - long-time partner and the other half of the band - helped produce, mix and play on a number of the keyboards and tracks, the sound is far removed from the frothy, bouncy - cute - piano-based pop that the duo were renowned. In it's place is an incredibly dreamy, melancholic atmospheric and yes, mature sound.
Despite the fact that Matthieu Beaumont - long-time partner and the other half of the band - helped produce, mix and play on a number of the keyboards and tracks, the sound is far removed from the frothy, bouncy - cute - piano-based pop that the duo were renowned. In it's place is an incredibly dreamy, melancholic atmospheric and yes, mature sound.
Similar to Fanny Bloom (the voice behind La Patère Rose) and her own stunning 2012 solo “Apprentie Guerrière, "Rookie” sees Catherine Leduc blossom and deliver as assured an album as is likely to be released this year.
"Rookie" may seem a strange title for an album from an artist who in one guise or another has been performing and recording for over a decade, but as Catherine has revealed in interviews to the French-Canadian press, this album really is about starting out afresh and (re)defining herself, musically.
The haunting introduction to “Les vieu hiboux” - with polysynth owls swooping through midnight forests - sets the melancholic theme that is developed throughout the ten peerless songs featured here, all aided by the added tinge of fragility and at times humility that Catherine's vocals deliver. This feeling of melancholy is further driven home on the sublime “Vendredi Saint.” It's an absolutely beautiful song - the construction - building from a solo acoustic guitar accompanying incredibly resonant lyrics that would surely melt the iciest of hearts - is as powerful as it is simply executed.
"Rookie" may seem a strange title for an album from an artist who in one guise or another has been performing and recording for over a decade, but as Catherine has revealed in interviews to the French-Canadian press, this album really is about starting out afresh and (re)defining herself, musically.
The haunting introduction to “Les vieu hiboux” - with polysynth owls swooping through midnight forests - sets the melancholic theme that is developed throughout the ten peerless songs featured here, all aided by the added tinge of fragility and at times humility that Catherine's vocals deliver. This feeling of melancholy is further driven home on the sublime “Vendredi Saint.” It's an absolutely beautiful song - the construction - building from a solo acoustic guitar accompanying incredibly resonant lyrics that would surely melt the iciest of hearts - is as powerful as it is simply executed.
“Pee-Wee BB” sees Catherine explore through the metaphor of junior (ice) hockey, themes of inferiority and of overcoming adversity - themes which again are woven throughout the subconscious of this album; while the glockenspiel and overdubbed vocals on "Polatouche,” added to the most angelic of choruses, perfectly complements this delicate song.
It's hard to pick out a stand-out track on an album of such high quality - the absence of a review of all the songs on this album is primarily due to brevity but also to stop me gushing about this album like an over-excited child and to give you, my reader, something new to explore - but “Il faut se lever le matin”, and it's deep plucked bass chord, and the album's closing number “Ouvre ton coeur!” with it's vibrant, soaring - imploring - chorus and uptempo hook are the songs that I keep returning to… And the ones that makes me yearn for more...
Bandcamp tags this album as “folk” - indeed nearly every francophone review that I've read has labelled this album as such. Far from me to argue, I worship at a pretty broad musical church and know that folk can cover a multitude of styles, but this album is stretching that particular genre beyond it's normal elastic boundaries.
My take is that “Rookie” is truly a gorgeous and outstanding album (metaphors that I tend to bandy around quite freely - but in this case justified), that traverses both genres and language. Should further recommendation be required, it has, in my humble opinion the same wow (as in “Wow! WTF was that?”) factor as Forêt's astonishing debut from last year.
This is album of the year list material. You read it here…
Bandcamp tags this album as “folk” - indeed nearly every francophone review that I've read has labelled this album as such. Far from me to argue, I worship at a pretty broad musical church and know that folk can cover a multitude of styles, but this album is stretching that particular genre beyond it's normal elastic boundaries.
My take is that “Rookie” is truly a gorgeous and outstanding album (metaphors that I tend to bandy around quite freely - but in this case justified), that traverses both genres and language. Should further recommendation be required, it has, in my humble opinion the same wow (as in “Wow! WTF was that?”) factor as Forêt's astonishing debut from last year.
This is album of the year list material. You read it here…
Catherine Leduc on Bandcamp
Catherine Leduc Website
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