RFI Musique - - Album review

Album review

Olivia Ruiz

Miss Météores

Paris

07/05/2009 -

On her eagerly-awaited third album, Miss Météores, Olivia Ruiz whirls through a galaxy of musical styles. And the quirky brunette from the Languedoc dares to reveal more of her personality, writing all her own lyrics for the first time.

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In the space of four years, Olivia Ruiz has transformed herself from La Femme chocolat (the title of her best-selling 2005 album) into Miss Météores, showering us with a fizzing cloud of musical meteorites. On her new album, Ms. Ruiz whisks listeners off on an intergalactic voyage through chanson, slam, punk, folk and Hispanic rock, drawing on the sounds she loves and those she grew up listening to. Orchestrating her songs with the help of her regular accomplice, Mathias Malzieu (lead singer of French rock band Dionysos), Ms. Ruiz has broadened her musical horizons on Miss Météores. And she emphasises the sheer diversity of album number 3 by enlisting a thoroughly mixed bunch of guest stars. These range from the Austrian folk singer Lonely Drifter Karen, French outfit Coming Soon and London-based indie rock band The Noisettes to members of her own family. (Olivia's father and brother provide vocals on one song apiece).

The musical shifts and lyrical mood swings on Miss Météores can be a little disorientating at times, but there is no mistaking the fact that this third album has been honed to absolute studio perfection. Olivia's well-crafted lyrics are alternately intimate, playful and even downright erotic at times and the musical arrangements are consistently rich and inventive - the Tim Burton-style atmosphere on Peur du noir and the tense string-and-brass arrangements on Elle panique are simply brilliant! Singing in a deft mix of French, Spanish and English, Olivia has also managed to lose some of the nasal tones that used to creep into her voice and this makes Miss Météores more agreeable to listen to on a loop.

Olivia, who has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame since appearing on the TV talent show Star Academy, has come a long way in musical terms. The singer confesses to intense moments of self-doubt on the first single release, Elle panique (She panics). But, judging by the sparkling quality of many of the songs on Miss Météores, this young star has no reason to doubt her talent!