Via Mardot

I've often remarked that while it has never been easier for artists to release their music - thanks to the plethora of affordable tools and apps, and websites such as Soundcloud and Bandcamp - it has never been harder to get that record heard by the music-loving (and hopefully, paying) public. Take for instance Grand Rapid's Olivia Mainville & The Aquatic Troupe, a band who fuse gypsy folk and swing, country and jazz, alongside pop and heaps of indie sensibility with a 'can-do' attitude. Not to mention the band possess a vocalist whose voice sounds as equally comfortable and at home with all those genres… Thing is I'm talking about an album that was released back in 2015, but which I only heard for the first time in the last couple of days… trust me, t'interweb is a b-i-g place and the chances of making a connection are infinitesimally small…

I mention all the above because she of that dexterous voice, Olivia Mainville, or - as Olivia identifies, her new musical form and identity - Via Mardot is an artist I've had my eyes (and ears) on since before last year's lockdown. With this past Friday being the first Bandcamp Friday of the year, what better excuse to finally snaffle that back-catalogue I've been meaning to do for a while, as well as picking-up her new single for good measure?

Via Mardot's eponymous debut EP, released in February last year, is filled with noir-pop themes, hints of haunting Morricone scores and lashings of 60s pop style and attitude. When it comes to je ne sais quoi this EP has it in bêches. The opening track (and single), "Stand", is a case in-point - moody guitars, stripped-back percussion serving as a backdrop for Olivia's cutting lyrics and vocals - there's a film-noir quality to the composition and arrangements - of subdued lighting, sodium-lit foggy streets and shadows - all of which draws you into Via Mardot's world.

If "Stand" paints an overwhelming feeling of enclosed space, "War" with a similarly sparse musical palette creates the opposite - the atmospheric and Morricone-inspired undercurrent instead imagines a cinematic expanse akin to the Sonoran Desert portrayed in one of a Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns - two gunfighters facing-off, as the metronomic strings countdown to the reckoning. Whatever the outcome, Olivia knows she'll lose.

"Wreck" by contrast, drips in 60s pop sensibilities and style, it's warming and inviting. The chorus lifts and bounces along. The lyrics by contrast convey a warning message. Mess with this girl and you're toast… And it's this lyricism alongside Olivia's mesmerising vocal delivery that make the whole EP so addictive - its multifaceted and complex, for all the relative (deliberate) simplicity of the arrangements there's a depth and complexity introduced by her wordsmithery.

"Disposable but Conditioned" swirls with hints of 60s psychedelia and mysticism. I'm immediately drawn to the lyrics (that and some delightful multi-tracking) and Olivia's voice. Similar to her vocal performances with The Aquatic Troupe, she seems to be able to meld her voice to whatever style is required. Here, there's a beguiling - if questioning - softness which adds to the air of mystery. This all-to-short EP closes with "Tie to the Bar", a song which again revisits those 60s pop themes, here adding a veneer of country guitar to proceedings and which is similarly married to astute and forthright lyricism matched only Olivia's vocals. It's just the type of song that ensures I'll keep coming back for more.

Via Mardot's latest release is "Stocks" and a song which feels ever so topical, given that it comes after the last Main Street versus Wall Street tussle - which should by now surely confirm that the Stock Exchange is just another gambling pit for sharp-suited alpha males to play with other peoples' money. Once more we're treated to Olivia's astute and bitting lyricism, and while the accompaniment would appear to employ the same minimalist approach of the EP, you can hear the sound being filled-out with the atmospheric strings of cello and viola

You might notice that I keep circling back to Olivia's lyricism and vocals, but it really is the glue that binds her songs together. They're sharp, observational and quite unforgiving should the mood arise. For all the mentions of Yé-Yé in reviews I've read, I'd argue there's another style of song à la mode française that Olivia is definitely attuned to... Chanson...

Via Mardot (Website / Bandcamp)