Frànçois

I bought Frànçois' album, The People to Forget, recorded with the Bristol ensemble The Atlas Mountains, after they supported Camera Obscura in Norwich this summer. He and his band were so incredibly infectious, endearing and fun live that we fell a little in love with them - the most memorable song of the night, Tracey Emin, has a live performance on YouTube from the night before I saw them live, although its not on the record.

It's a superb, sparkling little album, as distinctively lo-fi and French as Yann Tiersen's Amelie soundtrack. Not even half an hour long for ten songs, it has a mixture of upbeat pop tunes (I'm So Glad I Met You/The People To Forget) and quiet, wistful songs like the rain-spattered On Résistait or album opener The Song of the Drowning Man are the always welcome 'songs to fall asleep to'; it's definitely a night album. Frànçois sings his simple lyrics interchangeably in both English and French in his very sweet accent. Harp, melodica, clarinet and brass are all part of the subtle, often piano-based instrumentation, recorded mostly live. Going into GCSE Graphic Products student mode for a moment, the hand-made artwork of the album also makes it a particularly worthwhile purchase.

When he arrived in Bristol looking for musicians he advertised his influences as Minotaur Shock, Autechre, múm and so on, yet its hardly an electronica album: tracks like Revu from his debut album, of which I have heard little, seem to be far more influenced by these bands. He's also an artist and filmmaker - his website is full of his work and well worth a look.

Unfortunate, then, that half the time I've no idea what he's singing about - guess I'd better dig out that French dictionary again.

Buy:
All releases (via official site)

Listen:
I'm So Glad I Met You (via official site)
The People To Forget (via official site)
Revu (via official site)

Links:
kidfrancois.com
Myspace