CORALIE CLEMENT
Salle des Pas Perdus
Capitol
· Acoustic jazz-pop from France.
In his Dialogue On Language, Heidegger writes "that which bears itself toward us has already borne our counterbearing into the gift it bears for us."
No, I don't know what he's talking about either, but it is rather beautiful, and it is in this frame of mind that those among you who did not pay attention in French class should approach Salle des Pas Perdus. It’s classic French pop, not just in form (midway between Françoise Hardy and Astrud Gilberto) or arrangement (acoustic guitar with intermittent piano and strings), but also in the division of labour: all compositions are by respected new French songwriter Benjamin Biolay. Biolay may not be the the most original artist of his generation, but he is one of the finest craftsmen, both musically and lyrically. Although Biolay's own recordings suffer slightly from his reserved delivery, Clement approaches his work with just the right mixture of tenderness and play, so that, as with the other great couples of French pop (Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin, Dominique Ane and Françoiz Breut), her contribution raises the music from the intelligent to the sublime.
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