Cœur de pirate and Sophie Auster Live at The Troubadour

So you wait ages for a Cœur de pirate post and then - just like buses - two turn up in quick succession. Saturday saw Béatrice Martin (Cœur de pirate) make an oh-so-rare live appearance in the City of Angels and this time - unlike her only previous show - she was going to be performing with her complete touring band.

The Troubadour - at the posh end of Santa Monica Boulevard (the Beverly Hills city limits sign is just across the road) - is one of those intimate and iconic venues that generates a buzz even when it's only half-full, so with the complet notices having long since gone up and with the queue snaking around the block long before the doors opened, I had high hopes that tonight was going to be special...

That being said, LA crowds can be a bit superficial and I've lost count of the number of gigs I've been to where the atmosphere has ruined due to most of the crowd only being there because attendance for the 'bright young things' was de-rigour. However, with the air thick with French accents - ex-pat Québécois to the fore - this again had all the making of a home-from-home-coming gig...

First-up though Sophie Auster, who played an all too short acoustic set highlighting her recent Pledgemusic-funded sophomore album "Dogs and Men." Hard to believe that Sophie released her first album in 2005 - prolific she may not be (although a budding movie career may have something to do with that) - but there was more than enough to suggest that if she is kick-starting this career, her intelligent and tuneful songs are always going to find an ear amongst discerning music fans. 

In a set that was a little bit bluesy, with an added dash of soulful pop and a hint of a latin vibe - and which was incredibly well received by an appreciative crowd - it was immediately obvious that she can not only hold a note but possesses an incredibly wide dynamic range that is equally at home with bright and piercing up-tempo pop as it is with deeply soulful torch songs. There was even time for a couple of covers, Melanie's "Brand new key" (initially in the wrong key!) taking a familiar tune but adding enough of a twist to make it sound fresh, and an absolutely stunning interpretation of Dusty Springfield's "Breakfast in bed" (from the seminal "Dusty in Memphis" album), again featuring a modern twist and change of tempo mid-chord. On the balance of tonight's set and her new album here is an artist that I'd be more than willing to see the next time she's in town...

By the time Béatrice and her band took the stage there was a palpable air of expectation - and while Béatrice had tweeted just prior that she was feeling stressed, there weren't any outward signs of nerves - with just a disarming smile, she and the band launched into a faultless performance of "Oceans brawl." With an album as rich as "Roses" all the songs really benefit from the addition of her touring band and I can now understand why I've been told that you haven't really seen Cœur de Pirate until you've seen her live with her band. That's not to say that I wouldn't want to see another intimate acoustic soirée, it's just that the band really helped project both depth and texture, as well as freeing Béatrice from the piano of her solo performances.

Tonight's set followed closely that of her Vancouver and Seattle shows (although "Verseau" appeared to have wandered-off somewhere between Washington State and Southern California) and is an incredibly well animated and choreographed performance - those dancing lessons for the "Carry on" video have obviously been put to good use.

As expected there's a healthy smattering of tracks from her latest album (including "The Climb" - from the deluxe addition - that serves as a short interlude) and all sounded as vibrant and lush as they do on record. Seeing "Undone" performed live leaves me even more convinced that this is a nailed-on FM radio-friendly song; the 60's vibe of "Our love" shines through, while "Cast away" - which I'd suggested would work as a simple piano-vocal two-piece - is vividly bought to life. To these ears, "I don't want to break your heart" stripped of Allan Kingdom's rapping - replaced here by a bouncy middle-eight - actually sounds a more complete and seamless piece.

Similar to her previous El Rey show, Béatrice again prefaced a number of the songs with a brief and at times humorous introduction. There's a resounding 'awh' - and not many dry eyes - as she describes writing "The Way Back Home" for daughter Romy as a way of explaining mum's repeated absence.

With the band retiring for a quick cuppa (stronger liquids may have been imbibed), we're treated to a couple of solo numbers; "Dead flowers" - The Rolling Stones cover from the "Trauma" soundtrack album and the timeless "Francis."

I couldn't help but notice that another song from the "Trauma" album, "Slow show", had been scrubbed from the set-list - it's a song that Béatrice really nails. In fact with the release of "Trauma" there's a host of well-known - and not so well known - covers she could intersperse in her set; Patrick Watson's "The great escape" or the McGarrigle sisters' "Heartbeats accelerating" for instance. In fact if Béatrice ever plays the UK I'd like to think that she's treat the crowd to either her interpretation of Amy's "You know I'm no good" or The Libertines' "Music when the lights go out."

The set includes a great selection of Francophone numbers both from "Roses" and her earlier albums (or "...some old songs, 'cos they're good" as Béatrice explains). Save "Oublie-moi" (the French-language version of "Carry on"), all the French songs are performed; "Drapeau blanc", "Tu oublieras mon nom" and the gorgeous - and my favourite track on the album - "Crier tout bas." Indeed, with both "Saint Laurent" (as explained, a cautionary tale against using Tindr when dating) and the sublime "Place de la République" performed tonight I'm more than made-up as I can never tire of listening to these two songs.

All good things however must come to an end, but not before we were treated to an encore of "Comme des enfants" and "Carry on." With Béatrice playfully asking us to join in with the chorus of the former - or pretend to if we didn't know the words or couldn't speak French(!) - there were indeed enough Francophone ex-pats (and a smattering of Francophiles like myself with our own 'unique' accents) to ensure a rousing sing-along. If you get the opportunity to ever see Cœur de pirate, feel free to join in - you can do it; "...Et il m’aime encore, Et moi je t’aime un peu plus fort, Mais il m’aime encore, Et moi je t’aime un peu plus fort..." "Carry on", possibly Béatrice's most anthemic composition, was an outstanding set-closer; a song that deserves the full band treatment and which probably features the most soaring chorus that she has ever composed, left us pleading for more.

Now I commented previously that LA crowds can be a notoriously difficult to crack, but you can generally tell how good a show is and how enraptured the audience is by the level of background chatter. Tonight there was none as a packed Troubadour was enthralled by Béatrice (and for that matter Sophie Auster). Even Mrs Blog, who I strongly suspect begrudgingly indulges my love of all things Francophone, was moved to remark how much she enjoyed the gig. Indeed as the band took a well deserved bow, Béatrice appeared visibly moved by the response she received.

Once again, her natural talent, charm and bewitching pixie smile had conquered LA...
 

Set List

- Oceans brawl

- Undone

- Golden baby

- Pour un infidèle

- Our love

- Drapeau blanc

- Interlude (The Climb)
- I don't want to break your heart
- Saint-Laurent
- C'était salement romantique
- Francis
- Dead flowers (The Rolling Stones cover)
- Place de la République
- Cast away
- Tu oublieras mon nom
- The way back home
- Ensemble
- Adieu
- Crier tout bas

Encore
- Comme des enfants

- Carry On