“Few sane persons enjoy French Pop Music.” Anthony Bourdain

February 23, 2011 by frenchmoi

The French are known for their chocolates, their incredibly soft cheese, their lovely sex infused films filled with existential angst, their writers, their painters, their architecture, café society, their reds, yellows and blues tossed about rooms and their Debussy’s and Chopin’s. The list is très, très long (no wonder they are such a proud nation) But, there is one area that they are not known for and that area is pop music. Yes, they have their incredible Edith Piaf and Yves Montand; however, in these modern, guitar wielding, electronic nuanced times the French can lag behind.

In the book, “A Cook’s Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal.” Le sexy, Anthony Bourdain wrote that “Few Sane persons enjoy French Pop Music.” Well I am here to challenge that statement.  I am a musician & if one searches long, hard and carefully enough there are a few moody, creative and crazy talented pop musicians that hail from French language countries.

Pauline Croze is an artist that I found  just a week ago.

Once in awhile I will take an artist that I have loved for years (Keren Ann) and do a search on iTunes just to see if anyone new pops up and this past week Mademoiselle Croze said bonjour.  À propos, I call my searches “Pandora-esque hopping via iTunes.”

Pauline Croze:

Pauline began playing the guitar at the age of 14 and honed her voice by listening to Ella Fitzgerald. Her lyrics have a haunting, melancholic quality but the chansons themselves are not Cold Play melancholic inducing. À propos, Cold Play is mooody, not Damien Rice moody, that guy makes me want to go to Ireland and cry into a beer and I am not a fan of beer. Scotch, oui! Beer, non. Martini’s, si.  Mais,  je m’éloigne du sujet. (I digress)

I will let you be the judge of Pauline but here are some of my favorite songs of hers to get you started. From her first self entitled album: I. M’en voulez vous  II. Larmes,  I love these lyrics in Larmes: “Larmes envahit nos âmes” The flood of tears invades our souls “Le flot de nos larmes purifie nos âmes” The flood of tears purifies our souls.

On her second album entitled “Un bruit qui court” The chanson “Baiser d’adieu” and accompanying video are quite charming. “Valparaiso” is another. I love the guitar on this piece as well as the syncopated rhythms and chromatic/diatonic breakdown. C’est magnifique!

Finalement: Here are a few other musicians that are fantastic and in the same mood. Keren Ann who sings in English as well.  Elephantine=very cool and a mec (guy). Cali, more rock and another mec. Of course there is the First Lady, Carla Bruni. Amuse-toi bien!!

There you have and there it is. Until next time.

~À la Prochaine fois~ M

*Coming soon. “On most days I am a vegetarian except for the days when I am eating foie gras.”

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