RFI Musique - - The Buzz - Carla Bruni is back

Carla Bruni is back

Second album in French

Paris

11/07/2008 -

After having been made available for free listening online the day before yesterday, Carla Bruni's new album Comme si de rien n’était is officially released in record stores today Friday, 11 July. Now that the media storm over the supermodel-turned-chanteuse-turned-French-First-Lady is finally showing signs of abating, RFI Musique suggests it is time to consider Ms. Bruni's third album from a musical point of view.

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The question on everyone's lips right now is, bien sûr, is Carla's new album actually any good? And, for those who have had the pleasure of listening to it already, the answer is: Yes! The problem is given the endless discussions about the supposed shadow cast over the album by her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy, the endless diplomatic protocol and the endless hoo-ha at the First Lady's record label, Naïve, everyone appears to have overlooked the essential thing about Comme si de rien n'était - and that is the music! A month ago (on 11 June) Le Figaro published a sneak pre-review of Carla's third album, but since that date the world appears to have forgotten another essential thing - and that is that Carla Bruni is a singer! And, before being a question of constitutional right, a textbook case for marketing students, a headache for left-leaning music critics and a dilemma for right-wing leader writers who are not big fans of Carla Bruni the singer, Comme si de rien n’était is simply an album.

So, we hear you ask, what are the twelve original songs and two cover versions on Comme si de rien n'était like? Well, pretty good actually. Taking Quelqu’un m’a dit, Carla's debut album in French as a reference point, we find the same "me-myself-I" style of singing still firmly in place as Ms. Bruni delights in portraying herself in a variety of roles ranging from 'eternal romantic' and 'secret child' to 'playful lover' and 'moody melancholic'. But Carla the 'chanteuse' manages to inject her songs with such irony, such sensitivity, such frankness and – OK, let's admit it – such disarming charm that her self-portrait is far more nuanced than the usual self-glorifying songs served up by contemporary pop divas. Carla's last two albums were rather sparsely arranged by her old musician friend Louis Bertignac, setting her vocals against a backdrop of acoustic guitars and languid rhythms. And those who enjoyed the musical landscape of Quelqu'un m'a dit and No Promises will find the same distinctly American-European sense of melody apparent on Comme si de rien n'était as Carla puts her own unique 'French chanson' spin on guitar folk. Bruni fans will also rediscover those delightfully soft husky vocals poised, as usual, partway between silk and gravel.

But the musical surprise on Comme si de rien n’était comes in the fact that its producer Dominique Blanc-Francard has moved away from the soft pastel and ochre tones of Carla's two previous albums and experimented with bolder colours and a much wider spectrum of arrangements. Blanc-Francard appears to have been looking squarely back over his shoulder at the sixties - and particularly the sound George Martin created for The Beatles - as he worked on Comme si de rien n'était. On the album's opening track, Ma jeunesse, Carla bids a rueful farewell to her youth accompanied by mournful brass and vintage trombone, on Salut marin (a song dedicated to the singer's brother who died in 2006) the elegant vocals have been skilfully double-lined in the mix and Déranger les pierres revolves around evident references to Procol Harum. Meanwhile, a touch of classic Ennio Morricone slips into Carla's cover of Il vecchio e il bambino and the first single release, L’Amoureuse, features some superb string arrangements from Benjamin Biolay (the most sixties-influenced French orchestrator around).

And yet somehow the riot of horns, flutes, vibraphones and other flamboyant arrangements on Comme si de rien n'était does not make Carla's third offering an album that fits neatly into the traditional pop canon. Paradoxically, it is as if Blanc-Francard's musical detour to the other side of the Channel merely serves to bring Comme si de rien n'était back to the classical values of French chanson. Péché d’envie (a song Carla wrote in collaboration with Raphaël Enthoven, the father of her son) has a distinct Barbara feel to it, both the melody and the lyrics harking back to the grande dame of French chanson as Carla sings about "the devil forgiving me my all my beautiful desires."

Frankly, on her third album Carla Bruni seems to be much less interested in playing the 'fragile woman' card and rather more intent on asserting her full personality with all its singularities. These, sings Carla, are my hopes, my dreams, my "beautiful desires" and yes, this song, Ta tienne (Your Yours), will I know be endlessly commented on in the gossip magazines because yes, it was written with my husband in mind. Interestingly enough, Ta tienne provides a new linguistic take on the phrase "Je suis à toi" (I'm yours) by using a formula unknown in the French language: "Je suis ta tienne" (I'm your yours). "Je suis ta tienne, je suis ta tienne, je suis ta tienne/" Carla croons, noting in passing that "C’n’est pas correct, non, mais c’est bon quand même ("It's not correct, no, but it's good all the same). "Que l’on me maudisse et que l’on me damne/Je m’en balance, j’prends tous les blâmes" ("Let them curse me and damn me/I don't care, I'll take all the blame.")

We can only hope that in a few weeks' time, Ta Tienne together with the rest of the songs on Comme si de rien n'était will transcend that most unprecedented of situations of Carla Bruni being both France's First Lady and a Singer. We long for the day when it will be possible to speak about this album in terms of its musical content alone rather than the political context of its gestation and the diplomatic upheavals associated with its release. Maybe finally at some point we will be able to listen to Comme si de rien n'était as its title suggests - As If Nothing Had Happened!