What’s that song?
The question has been on lots of lips in France over the past few months as “that song” secures endless replays on radio. Though this may not be a sound recommendation, it even pops up in supermarkets as Jules, my friend in Paris, and I can testify from encounters with the audio systems while – new men that we are - we’ve been doing the shopping.
The song has an English title, Sirens Call, as does its performers, Cats on Trees. It is sung in English, with the merest trace of a foreign accent and only then after several hearings, and sounds as if it might be Irish, English or American.
Meet Nina Goern and Yohan Hennequin, autrement dit Des Chats dans les Arbres. Two young French musicians from the distinctly non-Anglo Saxon city of Toulouse.
Their song, and many of the others that appear on their eponymous debut album, are light but beautifully crafted pieces of whatever genre you choose to apply: pure pop, folk-électro (Nina’s phrase), indie, soft rock.
The melodies are strong, the lyrics at least as convincing as most English pop writers manage – which, I admit, is not saying too much – and the arrangements close to perfection.
All is helped along greatly by Nina’s voice, haunting and seductive and reminiscent of some of the great female lead singers from folk-rock. “I've been told that I have an Irish-Cambodian accent,” Nina tells me in a quick e-mail interview to complement a longer phone call from her partner-in-art Yohan.
I have been longing to push this duo beyond France or the French-speaking world. The album has sold 100,000+ copies but I'd be surprised if, until recently at least (the album is now out in the UK), more than a few hundred people in the UK had even heard of them, unless - like me - they spend time in France and also came across Sirens Call, or are French.
They'd be superb additions to the bill of any of the more broad-based UK folk festivals, such as Cambridge or Fairport Convention's annual event at Cropredy. Indeed, I may be on the point of introducing Nina to the wonders of Fairport from the era of the late Sandy Denny. She expressed interest so I forwarded clips for Who Know Where The Time Goes?, Fotheringay and - for fun - Si Tu Dois Partir, Dylan put to schoolgirl French.
See if you enjoy Sirens Call as much as many on the French side of the Channel ...
I'll save the full interviews - arranged by the excellent Manon Le Bozec at the
Tôt Ou Tard agency in Paris - for Salut! Live.
If you want to read more, there are already a couple of pieces there:
* Cats on Trees: une exception française - http://www.salutlive.com/2014/04/cats-on-trees-une-exception-francaise.html
* Cats on Trees: Sirens Call no fluke - http://www.salutlive.com/2014/08/cats-on-trees-sirens-calling-no-fluke.html
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