Lisa LeBlanc
Back in the days B.B. (Before Blog) I was making one of my sporadic forays to the neighbours to the north and remember tuning into "Radio Canada Colombie Britannique" (see, I'm a true Francophone a heart) and hearing this one particular song - over and over again - until the tune was embedded in my skull and I'd racked my brain mentally translating the lyrics over and over and over again...
The song in question? "Kraft dinner" from New Brunswick's Lisa LeBlanc and her eponymous debut album. It was my first introduction to not only the Acadian French dialect of the province but also the "folk-trash" style that Lisa exemplifies...
The song in question? "Kraft dinner" from New Brunswick's Lisa LeBlanc and her eponymous debut album. It was my first introduction to not only the Acadian French dialect of the province but also the "folk-trash" style that Lisa exemplifies...
"Kraft
dinner" is, at a cursory listen, arguably one of the most beautiful of
heart-warming love songs. But it's more than that, it's a song
reflecting back on a simpler, more contented way of life ("At worst,
we'll laugh together, We'll eat a Kraft Dinner, That's all that we
need")...
And now La reine de folk-trash is back, not only with a brand new six-track mini-album, "Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted" - but also a new language - English. This is an album full of banjos plucked at 100 mph, of shredded guitars and tub-thumping bass and drums. Of songs about the attraction and revulsion of love. An album that pays a healthy respect to the roots of Americana - country, folk, bluegrass (Apparently the inspiration for this album comes from a road trip South of the 49th that Lisa made back in 2013), not to mention a distinctive rockier, edgier sound than compared to her debut. Ultimately though there's that distinctive huskiness of her voice - one that comes across as being honed by gargling on razor blades and whiskey - and which to these ears is at one strangely comforting and utterly compelling.
The album opens with "You Look Like Trouble (But I Guess I Do Too)" is testament to the albums rockier roots. It's one of those great "10 things I hate about you" songs. With just a simple banjo accompaniment Lisa - fighting the fear of attraction - tries to find reasons why she shouldn't stay with her current beau... And then after the first refrain, as she realises that the argument is pointless, the tempo slowly builds before literally explodes in a cacophony of percussion and guitar. The clip below, provides a taster of the pure dynamism that Lisa generates with this song...
The seamlessness of this album can be summed up by the fact that until I read the sleeve notes I wasn't aware that "Katie Cruel" was a cover, such is the contemporary treatment the song is given here, that far from having a provenance that apparently dates back to the Revolutionary Wars (and to which we'll gloss over the outcome) the song sounds as if it was written and composed on her recent road trip.
The one time that Lisa turns everything down a notch is on the instrumental that is album's title track. The outcome paints such an evocative landscape that you half-expect the tune to feature in the score for a Sergio Leone western, with Lisa as the woman with no name riding into some god-forsaken town on the edge of a foreboding desert landscape.
And now La reine de folk-trash is back, not only with a brand new six-track mini-album, "Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted" - but also a new language - English. This is an album full of banjos plucked at 100 mph, of shredded guitars and tub-thumping bass and drums. Of songs about the attraction and revulsion of love. An album that pays a healthy respect to the roots of Americana - country, folk, bluegrass (Apparently the inspiration for this album comes from a road trip South of the 49th that Lisa made back in 2013), not to mention a distinctive rockier, edgier sound than compared to her debut. Ultimately though there's that distinctive huskiness of her voice - one that comes across as being honed by gargling on razor blades and whiskey - and which to these ears is at one strangely comforting and utterly compelling.
The album opens with "You Look Like Trouble (But I Guess I Do Too)" is testament to the albums rockier roots. It's one of those great "10 things I hate about you" songs. With just a simple banjo accompaniment Lisa - fighting the fear of attraction - tries to find reasons why she shouldn't stay with her current beau... And then after the first refrain, as she realises that the argument is pointless, the tempo slowly builds before literally explodes in a cacophony of percussion and guitar. The clip below, provides a taster of the pure dynamism that Lisa generates with this song...
The seamlessness of this album can be summed up by the fact that until I read the sleeve notes I wasn't aware that "Katie Cruel" was a cover, such is the contemporary treatment the song is given here, that far from having a provenance that apparently dates back to the Revolutionary Wars (and to which we'll gloss over the outcome) the song sounds as if it was written and composed on her recent road trip.
The one time that Lisa turns everything down a notch is on the instrumental that is album's title track. The outcome paints such an evocative landscape that you half-expect the tune to feature in the score for a Sergio Leone western, with Lisa as the woman with no name riding into some god-forsaken town on the edge of a foreboding desert landscape.
"Moi, Lisa LeBlanc, j'viens d'un village de 40 personnes. Je joue du folk trash. Je suis une Acadienne qui roule ses 'r', qui aime se moquer d'elle-même, qui écrit des textes sans trop de froufrous et qui est tannée de chanter des chansons de fi-filles!"
"The Waiting List" and the album's closing number “Race Track” are both examples of the effortless countrified style of Lisa's compositions. The latter contains a twist as the band address their indie sensibilities, throw in some jangly guitars and crank the noise and tempo up notch or two...
Which is exactly the outcome on "Gold Diggin’ Hoedown”, ostensibly a straight-up country-bluegrass number (albeit one on Speed), that is transformed into full-bore, thumping cow-punking number (the style much beloved by that Chiac-parlezing trio Les Hay babies as Lisa lets out a "whoo", guitars kick-in and the pedals are pushed hard to the metal.
Actually this album is an immense amount of fun to listen to, Lisa sounds like she had fun making it and one that proves she's just as comfortable composing in English as she is in her native French. Indeed all the things I loved about her debut album are here in spades - plus I don't need to wrap my head around the (delightfully charming) Arcadian dialect of her home Province...
As Lisa describes herself; "Moi, Lisa LeBlanc, j'viens d'un village de 40 personnes. Je joue du folk trash. Je suis une Acadienne qui roule ses 'r', qui aime se moquer d'elle-même, qui écrit des textes sans trop de froufrous et qui est tannée de chanter des chansons de fi-filles!" ("Me, I'm Lisa LeBlanc, I live in a village of 40 people. I play folk trash. I am an Acadian who rolls her 'r's', who likes to laugh at herself, who writes lyrics without too many frills and who is sick of singing girly-girl songs!")
And more power to her banjo arm, sez I!
Lisa LeBalanc Website
"Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted" "Bandcamp"
Actually this album is an immense amount of fun to listen to, Lisa sounds like she had fun making it and one that proves she's just as comfortable composing in English as she is in her native French. Indeed all the things I loved about her debut album are here in spades - plus I don't need to wrap my head around the (delightfully charming) Arcadian dialect of her home Province...
As Lisa describes herself; "Moi, Lisa LeBlanc, j'viens d'un village de 40 personnes. Je joue du folk trash. Je suis une Acadienne qui roule ses 'r', qui aime se moquer d'elle-même, qui écrit des textes sans trop de froufrous et qui est tannée de chanter des chansons de fi-filles!" ("Me, I'm Lisa LeBlanc, I live in a village of 40 people. I play folk trash. I am an Acadian who rolls her 'r's', who likes to laugh at herself, who writes lyrics without too many frills and who is sick of singing girly-girl songs!")
And more power to her banjo arm, sez I!
Lisa LeBalanc Website
"Highways, Heartaches and Time Well Wasted" "Bandcamp"
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