Fresh off the press, here is Violette's latest ! Bookmark this page, come back soon and often to keep up to date with her projects ! Stay tuned !
Videos From Simple is Beautiful CD Release!
Wednesday, 21 December 2011 10:54
Violette
Check out these videos capturing the wonderful night we had at Drom in September!
Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 11:01
Simple is Beautiful Review by Nick DeRiso
Friday, 25 November 2011 16:56
Violette
Check out Nick DeRiso review of SIB!
Violette is at once old and new world, this sultry European chanteuse who can slip seamlessly into a Delta blues growl. That renders the French native singer-songwriter difficult to categorize, but it makes for a thrilling journey through her third release, Simple is Beautiful. For instance, there’s the interesting amalgam of “Rocking with Angels” which lives up to its title by building off a rockabilly riff and a sun-filled disposition. Violette sings with an impressive range, moving from kitten-y intrigue to gutty brashness -- sometimes within a single line, as on the initial chorus. The song has broader ambitions, though, eventually transforming from its stripped-down beginnings into a string-bolstered anthem, complete with a rollicking group of hooting back up vocalists.
“Silence in My Head” again begins with a more contemplative guitar figure, before a sweeping accompaniment of strings returns. This time, Violette settles into a whispered lyric that deftly conveys the cold quiet of a broken heart, completing a few smart turns of phrase before leaping into a shattering high range through the song’s shattering chorus. That sets the stage nicely for a sharply incisive turn on the electric guitar by Mark Doyle. Ralph Rosen’s chugging turn on the harmonica underscores the gritty blues feel of “Superwoman,” which finds Violette attacking the song’s lightly ironic braggadocio with gusto. It’s one of the album’s best examples of her canny ability to meld styles, and a tribute to her passion for African-American musical styles.
Originally a student of classical music, Violette’s musical landscape changed when she heard the Verve duo recordings of Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. A new passion for jazz was born. She eventually moved to Boston to enroll in the Berklee College of Music. This 12-song cycle follows Violette’s debut in 2009, called Innervoice, and last year’s Joie de Vivre. She continues to perform on both sides of the Atlantic, all the while taking in influences from both cultures. Check out “Sweet Soul Music,” which builds outward from a reggae-inflected rhythm into a pew-rattling gospel shout. Violette is in complete command of this shape-shifting project from the first, feeling free enough to unfurl a cooing, impossibly high vocal scat that would have shamed Minnie Ripperton.
This album’s title track, with a tenderly impactful string arrangement by Mark Doyle, balances those rumbling joys with its fragile plea for a return to the simple things in life.
Doyle also handled arrangements for “Rocking with Angels,” and “Don’t Make Me Beg” , a devastating admission of soul-deep need for another.
“Shinin’ Your Light” returns to the opener’s skipping mid-century rock vibe, allowing Violette an opportunity to sing in a sultry, winking manner that recalls hit country songstress Faith Hill.
Keyboardist Laderrick Perry Jr. moves to the fore in a pair of bonus tracks, first on “Miss Your Company,” where Violette sings with a broken rawness. The similarly themed, and musically constructed, album-closer “Need You Now” gathers itself in a more hopeful way, as Perry’s playing -- more insistent, almost reassuring -- seems to bolster a still grieving Violette. This time, though, there’s the sense that her love might return.
Violette wrote or co-wrote each of the songs, save for the cover of “La Vie En Rose.” Her writing collaborator was the album’s principal mixer Rich Mendelson. Louis Cato handles guitar, bass and drums on every track, save for “La Vie En Rose,” as well. “Rose,” by the French legend Edith Piaf, is in its own way both a statement of purpose for the emerging French singer – and a chance for Violette to separate herself from one of her native country’s most famous exports. She does an admirable job on both counts, beginning the tune with a familiar reverie, but then revving up into a shambling jazz beat that gives her another chance to show off an impressive set of chops.