Hay Babies!
Now my neighbour raves about the service, but to these ears it a bit like cable TV - hundreds of channels, mostly "meh", that frankly my life can quite easily do without.
So having dialed in the BBC World Service and some "alternative" and "indie" (my arse), I'm began to struggle until I hit upon a couple of French-Canadian stations and soon the dulcet tones of Hôtel Morphée, Marie-Pierre Arthur, Chantal Archambault and Fanny Bloom are serenading my ears.
Anyway, I'm listening the other evening and I suddenly realise that I'm following this year's "Francouvertes" final (sponsored in part by SiriusXM, natch...) and there's this female country-folk band with some incredibly catchy numbers and a solid line of between-song banter...
And so I'm intrigued... and armed with a search engine...
Seems that Quebec New (or should that be Nouveau?) Brunswick trio Julie Aubé, Katrine Noël and Vivianne Roy apparently spent their early musical careers competing against one another in regional battle of the bands contests. Realising that three heads are better than one, the girls got together and formed Les Hay Babies at the back end of 2011.
On the back of some solid gigging in both their native Canada and the more enlightened (i.e. francophone) regions of Europe, the band last summer released their debut bilingual 6-track EP, again available through the usual suspects or via their bandcamp webpage.
And so several listens (one of the great things about bandcamp is the ability to stream songs in their entirety) and a flexing of my flexible friend later, it's safe to say that the EP is on heavy rotation (albeit that I'm getting worried that my musical tastes are ** cough ** mellowing in my old age).
The band define themselves as Indie-Folk, but there's a definite country-tinge to songs showcased here. Sung in a mix of both French and English, all highlight the girls' tight harmonies, ably backed by their guitar and ukulele strumming... not to mention banjo plucking (there's not a drum machine or synthesiser anywhere to be heard... which every now and again ain't a bad thing...)
The EP opens with the plaintive sung-in-English "Horse on Fire", which neatly dovetails into the rasping "Chu pas une femme à marier", both of which are great folk ballads, separated - or more likely united - by the differing languages. In fact the band switch seamlessly between French and English, often mid-song. One of the pleasing touches of this mini-album is the way the girls askew moderating French-Canadian accents and pronunciation (although given that I grew up in a country anchored 22 miles off of La Belle France, this presents a few challenges!)
There's more than a hint of Chantal Archambault and last year's Francouvertes winners (and blog favourites) Les Soeurs Boulay, especially on the plaintive "Obsédée" and whistful "Le bear song."
The band remain truer to their country-folk roots than some of the compatriots, which may make this EP harder to warm to. Stick with it, as it is well worth the effort to appreciate the girls' vocal harmonisation and finally crafted and beautifully sympathetic songs.
As winners of this year's Francouvertes (following in the footsteps of blog favourites La Patère Rose (Fanny Bloom), Chloé Lacasse and last year's winners Les Soeurs Boulay) the girls win some quality recording time an distribution of the resulting album. Hopefully this should be available later this year or early 2014…
Les Hay Babies website (FR / EN)
Les Hay Babies "Folio"
Les Hay Babies on Bandcamp
On the back of some solid gigging in both their native Canada and the more enlightened (i.e. francophone) regions of Europe, the band last summer released their debut bilingual 6-track EP, again available through the usual suspects or via their bandcamp webpage.
And so several listens (one of the great things about bandcamp is the ability to stream songs in their entirety) and a flexing of my flexible friend later, it's safe to say that the EP is on heavy rotation (albeit that I'm getting worried that my musical tastes are ** cough ** mellowing in my old age).
The band define themselves as Indie-Folk, but there's a definite country-tinge to songs showcased here. Sung in a mix of both French and English, all highlight the girls' tight harmonies, ably backed by their guitar and ukulele strumming... not to mention banjo plucking (there's not a drum machine or synthesiser anywhere to be heard... which every now and again ain't a bad thing...)
The EP opens with the plaintive sung-in-English "Horse on Fire", which neatly dovetails into the rasping "Chu pas une femme à marier", both of which are great folk ballads, separated - or more likely united - by the differing languages. In fact the band switch seamlessly between French and English, often mid-song. One of the pleasing touches of this mini-album is the way the girls askew moderating French-Canadian accents and pronunciation (although given that I grew up in a country anchored 22 miles off of La Belle France, this presents a few challenges!)
There's more than a hint of Chantal Archambault and last year's Francouvertes winners (and blog favourites) Les Soeurs Boulay, especially on the plaintive "Obsédée" and whistful "Le bear song."
The band remain truer to their country-folk roots than some of the compatriots, which may make this EP harder to warm to. Stick with it, as it is well worth the effort to appreciate the girls' vocal harmonisation and finally crafted and beautifully sympathetic songs.
As winners of this year's Francouvertes (following in the footsteps of blog favourites La Patère Rose (Fanny Bloom), Chloé Lacasse and last year's winners Les Soeurs Boulay) the girls win some quality recording time an distribution of the resulting album. Hopefully this should be available later this year or early 2014…
Les Hay Babies website (FR / EN)
Les Hay Babies "Folio"
Les Hay Babies on Bandcamp
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