As Gallic chanteuse’s fare, singer/songwriter Charlotte Marionneau befittingly rasps and coyly swoons laconic truths like the best of them, in stereotypical ‘laissez-aller’ fashion. Acting as a foil to her languid tones, the polygenesis Le Volume Courbe (the volume curve) ensemble ply the thoroughly French elegiac sighs with an ancestral-rich backing.
Originally signed to Alan McGee’s Poptone imprint, way back in 2001 – releasing the debut single ‘Harmony/Papillion de Nuit’ – Marionneau’s Scott Walker style recording gaps have seen her record sporadically. In 2005 Honest Jon records released her debut LP, ‘I Killed My Best Friend’; imbued with contributions from My Bloody Valentine‘s Kevin Shields and Colm o’ Ciosoig, and Mazzy Star‘s Hope Sandoval and David Roback. She has also performed with the reformed Valentine; whose patriarch Kevin Shields continues to work with Marionneau on, this, her latest: ‘Theodaurus Rex’.
An alluring teaser to an eventual new album, this four-track EP appetiser features two original and two congruous pertinent, choice cover versions. The breathless opener, ‘Born To Lie’, is a resigned affair; chic and emotionally candid. Keeping her melancholic composure in check, our heroine declares, in philosophical shrugs, “Everybody lies/out of fear/Better get used to it” over, what sounds like, an imagined Len Deighton spy thriller set in Greece, strained soundtrack. Acid-casualty, psych patron, and miscreant leader of the acid-garage rockers, 13th Floor Elevavtors, Roky Erickson wrote some very honest and emotive sonnets whilst recovering from his LSD abuse. The enchanting paean ‘I Love The Living You’ is a typically endearing, if fey, soporific tribute to the maverick author that plaintively takes it on a Bob Dylan trip. An apt title indeed: ‘Lazy’ goes for a kookier edge. Marionneau in a playful mood, coos serendipitously to a pulsing seething keyboard track; dipping Bix Medard style into flickers of twinkly xylophone, and Casio retro Tropicana pre-set shtick. Nico‘s ‘Le Petit Chevalier’ is a concomitant addition. Not unsurprisingly, this gloomy, despairing, short lament, evokes an air of medieval Dordogne mystery, and Seventh Seal, stirring atmospherics. Harmonia, violins and looming bass wine and mourn to a Les Miserables rewrite of the Nordic Huldra’s original tract.
Marionneau is an indolent muse to her imagined surroundings; her pining perfect for Romane Bohringer film, or a ridiculously effete Parisian drama. No wonder her charms and aloof voice caught the ear of Shields.
Due: 22/11/11
[Rating:4]
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