Emily Loizeau Pays Sauvage (Bella Union)
3/5
By: Rachel Bolland
As an ignorant British girl who’s never bothered to learn another language beyond a GCSE level, listening to an album sung mainly in French can be a slightly daunting experience. The prospect of understanding less than half of the lyrics wasn’t one that filled me joy. Strangely though, it’s the English songs on this second album from the Gallic singer-songwriter Loizeau that seem to get lost in translation.
The opening tracks allow Loizeau to establish a sense of warmth, using a haphazard choir over multiple violins and various makeshift percussion instruments. The title track, sung in French, succeeds in establishing her as an artist with more to offer than the myriad of solo female acts that have emerged this year, a track bursting with intricacies and charm to boot. However, after the strong opener the unique traits that make her stand out fades away, and there are very few striking tracks to be found in the remainder of the album.
The bilingual Loizeau has attempted to blend English and French together, but it never seems to fully succeed. The English tracks on the album feel forced, and lack much of the personality of their French counterparts. This is shown plainly in the French version of ‘Tell Me That You Don’t Cry’ (‘Dis Moi Que Tu Ne Pleures Pas’). The English song echoes early Norah Jones and, while heartfelt and emotional, Loizeau’s voice has a harsh quality that prevents the track from reaching the same eerie beauty of some of her contemporaries. The French version, on the other hand, allows her personality to shine through, with a percussion backing and a turn half way through, changing it into something completely different.
She hits her stride in the more theatrical, off-beat songs, the majority of which are in her native tongue. ‘The Princess and the Toad’ marries the two languages together in a childish fairy tale that epitomises everything that’s charming about ‘Pays Sauvage’. Similarly, songs like ‘Coconut Madame’ and ‘La Femme A Barbe’ (The Bearded Lady) provide the theatrics that prevent this record from becoming yet another pretty, twee album from a female solo artist.
Artists in this article: Emily Loizeau
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