Mauve Lunel
I first wrote about singer-songwriter Mauve Lunel for Filles Sourires back in January, having always intended to blog about her here as soon as her debut EP "DÉCEMBRE" was released... That was back in February...
Mauve Lunel is a student of textile and graphic design, having studied in both France and Canada, and a career which has also taken her to New Delhi. Returning to La Belle France and currently an adopted Nantaise, she set out to study fashion and shoe design in nearby Cholet...
And there our tale might have ended...
But having picked-up the guitar at an early age, it was while studying at one of the many Cégeps (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel) in Montréal that Mauve actually started writing and performing - don't sniff, artists of the calibre of Isabelle Boulay, Ariane Moffatt and Klô Pelgag all got their early breaks at the general and vocational colleges of Québec - continuing her song-writing in India, where the first ideas of releasing an album started to take hold.
In interviews Mauve states her musical influences are Cat Power, the French-Canadian Folk music scene and who describes her style as being "Chanson with folk-pop accents, somewhere between Cat Power and Émilie Simon..." These influences can be traced through the five songs of her crowd-funded EP; songs which are drawn from experiences shared between the cities of Montreal, Paris and New Delhi.
The EP's title track is an ode to a winter's morning in her adopted city of Montréal, the song atmospherical evokes a world passing revolving around the corner of a café. The clever use of the cello paints an image of the slowly passing time (and to be honest, people watching at the weekend from my favourite café/bar 'au coin de la rue' in Neuchâtel is something that I really miss).
"Le temps m'apaise" also follows along a similar theme - the calming influence of time - the guitar fret-work and cello lends to this an air of tranquility, the song's upbeat acoustic folk-tinged rhythm is illuminated by Mauve’s seductively hypnotic vocals. Meanwhile "Derrière les barrières" takes on a slightly more subdued, melancholy air, adding harmonium to deeply resonant guitar to help create the scene.
"Ma silhouette" seems to draw from both Folk and Americana influences of Quebec; I love the reverbed guitar and again the added cello, but I'm particularly struck by the Mauve's vocals on this song - it's the moment when you start taking for granted the overall quality of compositions and instead become drawn to the bewitching quality of the voice of Mauve Lunel chanteuse. Unfortunately this all-to-brief musical debut of Mauve Lunel is over with the closing number, "Mille visages." Again there's a really strong vocal performance here, her voice really is centre-stage, ably assisted by the subtle multi-tracking during the refrain.
There's more than a hint of influence from the 'nouvelle-vague' Québec folk-pop scene and comparison with up and coming artists such as Véronique Bilodeau, Laura Babin and Geneviève Racette are not out of place.
High praise - and deservedly so after this impressive collection of well-crafted songs...
Mauve Lunel
"DÉCEMBRE" (Bandcamp), (iTunes)
Mauve Lunel is a student of textile and graphic design, having studied in both France and Canada, and a career which has also taken her to New Delhi. Returning to La Belle France and currently an adopted Nantaise, she set out to study fashion and shoe design in nearby Cholet...
And there our tale might have ended...
But having picked-up the guitar at an early age, it was while studying at one of the many Cégeps (Collège d'enseignement général et professionnel) in Montréal that Mauve actually started writing and performing - don't sniff, artists of the calibre of Isabelle Boulay, Ariane Moffatt and Klô Pelgag all got their early breaks at the general and vocational colleges of Québec - continuing her song-writing in India, where the first ideas of releasing an album started to take hold.
In interviews Mauve states her musical influences are Cat Power, the French-Canadian Folk music scene and who describes her style as being "Chanson with folk-pop accents, somewhere between Cat Power and Émilie Simon..." These influences can be traced through the five songs of her crowd-funded EP; songs which are drawn from experiences shared between the cities of Montreal, Paris and New Delhi.
The EP's title track is an ode to a winter's morning in her adopted city of Montréal, the song atmospherical evokes a world passing revolving around the corner of a café. The clever use of the cello paints an image of the slowly passing time (and to be honest, people watching at the weekend from my favourite café/bar 'au coin de la rue' in Neuchâtel is something that I really miss).
"Le temps m'apaise" also follows along a similar theme - the calming influence of time - the guitar fret-work and cello lends to this an air of tranquility, the song's upbeat acoustic folk-tinged rhythm is illuminated by Mauve’s seductively hypnotic vocals. Meanwhile "Derrière les barrières" takes on a slightly more subdued, melancholy air, adding harmonium to deeply resonant guitar to help create the scene.
"Ma silhouette" seems to draw from both Folk and Americana influences of Quebec; I love the reverbed guitar and again the added cello, but I'm particularly struck by the Mauve's vocals on this song - it's the moment when you start taking for granted the overall quality of compositions and instead become drawn to the bewitching quality of the voice of Mauve Lunel chanteuse. Unfortunately this all-to-brief musical debut of Mauve Lunel is over with the closing number, "Mille visages." Again there's a really strong vocal performance here, her voice really is centre-stage, ably assisted by the subtle multi-tracking during the refrain.
There's more than a hint of influence from the 'nouvelle-vague' Québec folk-pop scene and comparison with up and coming artists such as Véronique Bilodeau, Laura Babin and Geneviève Racette are not out of place.
High praise - and deservedly so after this impressive collection of well-crafted songs...
Mauve Lunel
"DÉCEMBRE" (Bandcamp), (iTunes)
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