If you haven’t yet heard the French singer “Camille,” get ready for a WOW. Her music is bursting with creativity and life and will make you remember how interesting, inspiring and funky music can be.
I just bought Camille’s new album “Music Hole” and I can’t stop listening. It’s one part irreverent body slap, one part a capella heart song, one part funky beat and one part animal yelp. Camille’s goal was, in her own words, “to mix the storytelling ‘chansons’ feel from musicals with something more tribal: body percussions, minimalist trance, sub bass and throat singing.” The result is an audio explosion of new sounds.
“Music Hole” is a shift from the 30 year-old Parisian’s former style. Her first two albums, “Le sac des filles” (2002) and “Le Fil” (2005), fall into a more classic “French” music genre: poetic lyrics in French and wistful, melancholic undertones. You can already start to see Camille’s uniqueness in these two albums. She uses her body as an instrument. Her arms, chest and the lung cavity become drums, while her mouth is used as a noise-maker to create popping, whistling and clicking sounds. “Le Fil” is also interesting in that it is based around the idea of a connective “fil” or "string.” This can most notably be heard in the droning note that is present throughout the album.
Watch “Ta Douleur” film clip from “Le Fil”
Listen to “1,2,3” from “Le Sac des filles”
Watch the body percussions in “Le sac des filles”
“Music Hole” is a slightly different beast and represents some fairly significant shifts in Camille’s musical style. First of all, it is mainly in English and you won’t get a traditional French sound from this album (for more on the French love of music written in English check out my previous post). Secondly, “Music Hole” is more boisterous and adventuresome than Camille’s former work. It gets you going in multiple directions; it makes you want to laugh, clap, get up and walk around, sing and in between all of this contemplate life. And sometimes it makes you stop and think, that’s some funky noise. I, for one, appreciate the unique mixture of a beautiful voice, animal noises and a whole lot of body percussion.
Here are some examples from "Music Hole." This album is better the closer you listen. My advice is to get out the big headphones. Plug them in. And let Camille feed your ears.
“Money Note” makes me simultaneously laugh and dance every time I listen to it. It’s a spoof on both Mariah Carey’s singing style and the money-making music industry. The song starts with the clinking of coins and then gears up with increasingly complex layers of money talk, beat boxing, and percussion instruments. This money-making machine of voices marches on until Camille tells everyone to:
Everyone get up now
Get ready for the WAOW
Move your arms up in the sky
I’ll hit the money note
What’s she’s after?? Camille says it best: “I just want to beat Mariah, Oh! Let me deserve that raise.” If Camille can just reach that piercing note Mariah Carey proved possible, if not desirable, the bling bling will start rolling in. Camille’s going to give it a try and you have a front seat for the show.
When she does, she hits it right on the money with a screech that would make a blackboard cringe. ENTER AIRWAVES: OVERPRODUCED ‘SEXY’ MALE VOICE with confirmation of Camille’s success, “YEAH……SHE HIT THE MONEY NOTE – YEAH THE MONEY NOTE. (…) AND IF SHE HITS C EIGHT, THAT WOULD BE REALLY GREAT.” You can’t help but laugh. The song is a satire, has a wealth of innovative sounds, and gets you dancing. What a piece of ear candy. (Watch the video)
Where “Money Note” gets the body moving, “Sanges Sweet” is a contemplative reflection on the vastness of life:
I can’t believe what I have done
Been to the moon, been to the sun,
Of all the dreams I’ve had
Not one of them has come true the same night
The song draws out the ideas of lushness and loss. Again, Camille puts us in a rich audio-bed of sounds – this time loops of bells, clappers, piano, breathing sounds, and a myriad of different voice tones. “Sanges Sweet” falls squarely between joy and sadness and is easy listening. (Listen to the song)
“Gospel With No Lord” is an upbeat and joyful spin-off on Gospel music and has a Walt Whitemanesque, “Song of Myself” message. The music also reflects this with the body itself becoming the main music and percussion instrument in the piece. (Watch the video)
Want more? Get it from the Music Hole herself in this video. She’s funny, sweetly irreverent and speaks in Franglophone (Video is in English after the first 5 seconds).
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