Coeur de Pirate to Play Four U.S. Shows
Béatrice Martin will be bringing her Coeur de Pirate project to the Northeastern United States for four dates this January. Despite her performing in French, the award-winning French-Canadian singer’s fan base has been expanding internationally to English-speaking audiences thanks to her rich and highly expressive, yet accessible songwriting. On several occasions, Canada’s CBC ‘Bucky Awards’ have proclaimed Coeur de Pirate as the ‘Best Reason to Learn French’. She has been certified Platinum in Canada and Belgium, Triple Platinum in France, and Gold in Switzerland.
On her 2011 sophomore album entitled Blonde (referring not only to her hair color, but also to the French-Canadian slang term for girlfriend), Coeur de Pirate melancholic-ally evokes a sixties sound and style, and does so with impressive maturity given her twenty-two years of age.
The piano-driven ballad pop that characterized her eponymous 2008 debut has grown far more sophisticated, but without losing any of its original charm. Through sound and imagery, Blonde immediately carries us back to times of Brigitte Bardot, Jean-Luc Godard, Nancy Sinatra, and Francoise Hardy; it is however the subtleties in these sixties era references that truly define Coeur de Pirate’s state of mind on this record. Much like with other notable artists that helped define sixties French music, the instrumentation and lyrics on Blonde seem to tell different stories. You however don’t need to understand the words to grasp this conflicting duality: the essence of it transcends language as if it were but only a minor obstacle, communicated instead through Béatrice’s expressive nature, each syllable coming out of her mouth phonetically carrying out meaning beyond the medium of words.
A burdened bittersweet nostalgia of past relationships, loved and lost, is on Martin’s mind, but she’s not shouting it from the rooftops, she’s whispering it in our ears; and at times the music wants to throw us off, much like when we have something difficult to say to someone and our words and body language start contradicting each other, as if to hold us back from saying too much. The album’s first single Adieu (French for farewell) is an example of such torment diverted by tongue-in-cheek humor, and this aspect is particularly underlined in the song’s video. In true sixties spirit, Blonde is heavy in content, but without wanting to make too much of a fuss about it; it would much rather take a light-hearted approach.
Co-produced with Montreal’s Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Basia Bulat), Blonde resists the temptation of ever getting carried away by stating too much, or doing it too emphatically. Instead, the production compliments Martin’s songwriting, as well as her sometimes torn and timid delivery to bring forth a beautifully crafted and impeccably executed indie-pop music gem. Danse et danse, Loin d’ici, and Place de la République are all astonishingly memorable pop treasures.
Coeur de Pirate will bring her tour to the States from January 24th-28th, performing in Philadelphia, Washington, New York City, and Boston. The concert dates are listed below and will feature opening act Leif Vollebekk. Her album Blonde is available on iTunes.
Coeur de Pirate U.S. dates:
January 24th 2012
Philadelphia, World Cafe, $25.00
January 25th 2012
Washington, 9:30 Club, $15.00
January 27th 2012
New York City, Highline Ballroom, $15.00
January 28th 2012
Boston, Brighton Hall, $15.00