Mélanie Brulée
My Bandcamp Wishlist has seriously spiralled way out of control, but as I listened to this album I just knew it was time to dip into my wallet again… Mélanie Brulée (or is it Melanie? Seems to depend on whether you're reading the French or English language Canadian press) hails from a Francophone family from Cornwall, Ontario. She released an EP "Sucré / Salé" featuring predominately English language songs back in 2012. While it would be easy to categorise the EP as overwhelmingly adult-orientated pop-rock - as I've discovered - Mélanie added one killer of a brass section and some sweet double bass, which lends more than a dash of jazz and blues to create a quintet of soulful, thoughtful tunes.
For her debut album "Débridée" Mélanie has crafted nine songs in her native French alongside one bilingual composition, that were primarily composed during a sejour in Paris and which allowed her to reconnect with her Francophone roots. The resulting album, while a little bit-retro ('familiar' would be another useful adjective to insert here) is most decidedly fresh in outlook and very definitely fun, also features a stunning reinterpretation of a blast from my past (and which I was moved to heap fulsome praise in her direction). However, what makes this album really standout is the way in which Mélanie - who describes her musical style as 'indie-spaghetti-western-surf-folk-cabaret' - has taken typically English musical genres - rock, the country and folk roots of 'Americana', added copious lashings of guitar - mélangé to create something that sounds incredibly contemporary and most assuredly French…
"Obtus" is as good a song to launch an album as any I've heard this year. A quirky love song, it is incredibly retro - full of 60's surf and tremeloed guitars - insanely cheerful and features a hook so ridiculously catchy that if ever the CDC got wind, it would be immediately slapped in quarantine. There's a gorgeous rasping nasal twang to Mélanie's voice that spells 'F-U-N' and a wicked, playful glint in her eyes…
The second reason to buy this album is Mélanie's version of Vanessa Paradis' "Marilyn et John" (from her debut album "M&J"). Alongside "Joe le Taxi" it was arguably the strongest track on a fairly lightweight album - this is not to take anything away from the original, but Vanessa was only fifteen when the album was released and I'm not sure that she had a huge amount of artistic control - but Mélanie's portrayal of the ultimately doomed romance between Marilyn Monroe and JF Kennedy is absolutely stunning - the fragility conveyed by her voice so matches the song's mood - I've always liked the song, but I lurve this version….
"Astéroïde" - is just a great rock song - period. Take a metronomic beat, dark, ominous lyrics; ("The day takes the night, Autumn takes summer, Death takes life, Everything changes forever…"), a tumultuous tumbling coda of layered guitars - it's all here as Mélanie hurtles through space on a collision course with destiny…
But the album is not all rock and roll à la française. I mentioned that Mélanie has borrowed from 'Americana' and there are Country-Folk influences weaved throughout a number of the songs. "Peur de moi" not only offers a complete change of mood but features the most gorgeous of weeping steel guitars. It's incredibly atmospheric, lyrics and melody perfectly captures the song's narrative and features a middle-eight worth dying for. "Coeur sauvage" is a contemporary and rather intense love song in a striking Alt-Country vein - at times reminiscent of Tucson period Marianne Dissard - with a stunning change in vocal inflection about halfway through. It's quite masterfully done. Meanwhile, if Portishead were ever to try their hand at Alt-Country I'd suspect that it might sound something like "Naked" - there are some very downbeat, trip-hoppy rhythms bubbling just below the surface in a song that for all its gift-wrapping with country-rock and reverbed guitars - is darkly and deliciously mysterious.
And then there are songs where the battery of guitars take second billing to Mélanie's voice, allowing an appreciation the range and emotion she can display. While the song features those by-now trademark guitars, it's the vocals on "Merci" that truly standout. "Antidote du doute" and "Huile sur toile" are just beautiful pop-songs (indeed you sometimes wish all pop-songs were as intelligent as these), while "Qui suis-je" is perhaps the most atmospheric and introverted of numbers and arguably features the most imploring and questioning of vocal performances…
I originally bought "Débridée" on the strength of "Obtus" and "Marilyn et John" (not strictly true - but never let facts get in the way of a good narrative), but the more I've listened to this album over the past few days, the more I've come to realise this really is an exceptional album that is both a little bit different and a little bit unexpected. It is also an album that leaves me wanting to hear a whole lot more of Mélanie Brulée…
Mélanie Brulée Website
"Débridée" (Bandcamp), (iTunes)
"Obtus" is as good a song to launch an album as any I've heard this year. A quirky love song, it is incredibly retro - full of 60's surf and tremeloed guitars - insanely cheerful and features a hook so ridiculously catchy that if ever the CDC got wind, it would be immediately slapped in quarantine. There's a gorgeous rasping nasal twang to Mélanie's voice that spells 'F-U-N' and a wicked, playful glint in her eyes…
The second reason to buy this album is Mélanie's version of Vanessa Paradis' "Marilyn et John" (from her debut album "M&J"). Alongside "Joe le Taxi" it was arguably the strongest track on a fairly lightweight album - this is not to take anything away from the original, but Vanessa was only fifteen when the album was released and I'm not sure that she had a huge amount of artistic control - but Mélanie's portrayal of the ultimately doomed romance between Marilyn Monroe and JF Kennedy is absolutely stunning - the fragility conveyed by her voice so matches the song's mood - I've always liked the song, but I lurve this version….
"Astéroïde" - is just a great rock song - period. Take a metronomic beat, dark, ominous lyrics; ("The day takes the night, Autumn takes summer, Death takes life, Everything changes forever…"), a tumultuous tumbling coda of layered guitars - it's all here as Mélanie hurtles through space on a collision course with destiny…
But the album is not all rock and roll à la française. I mentioned that Mélanie has borrowed from 'Americana' and there are Country-Folk influences weaved throughout a number of the songs. "Peur de moi" not only offers a complete change of mood but features the most gorgeous of weeping steel guitars. It's incredibly atmospheric, lyrics and melody perfectly captures the song's narrative and features a middle-eight worth dying for. "Coeur sauvage" is a contemporary and rather intense love song in a striking Alt-Country vein - at times reminiscent of Tucson period Marianne Dissard - with a stunning change in vocal inflection about halfway through. It's quite masterfully done. Meanwhile, if Portishead were ever to try their hand at Alt-Country I'd suspect that it might sound something like "Naked" - there are some very downbeat, trip-hoppy rhythms bubbling just below the surface in a song that for all its gift-wrapping with country-rock and reverbed guitars - is darkly and deliciously mysterious.
And then there are songs where the battery of guitars take second billing to Mélanie's voice, allowing an appreciation the range and emotion she can display. While the song features those by-now trademark guitars, it's the vocals on "Merci" that truly standout. "Antidote du doute" and "Huile sur toile" are just beautiful pop-songs (indeed you sometimes wish all pop-songs were as intelligent as these), while "Qui suis-je" is perhaps the most atmospheric and introverted of numbers and arguably features the most imploring and questioning of vocal performances…
I originally bought "Débridée" on the strength of "Obtus" and "Marilyn et John" (not strictly true - but never let facts get in the way of a good narrative), but the more I've listened to this album over the past few days, the more I've come to realise this really is an exceptional album that is both a little bit different and a little bit unexpected. It is also an album that leaves me wanting to hear a whole lot more of Mélanie Brulée…
Mélanie Brulée Website
"Débridée" (Bandcamp), (iTunes)
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