The two recent evenings of the 28are Francouvertes have shaken up the appearance of the preliminary list without, however, shaking singer-songwriter Soleil Launière and the power trio rock PRINCESSES, who retain their first and second places. Third position today belongs to rock-folk enthusiast Loïc Lafrance, who stole the show in last Tuesday evening’s captivating musical program.
This Tuesday menu was mouth-watering, with two projects already on track and a third to discover.
The most experienced of the three, Vincent Khouni, opened the evening; after a decade of treading the boards at the head of the (Anglo) psychedelic rock group Double Date With Death, he is now venturing solo and in French, having launched a first mini-album (8:12 p.m.) last September. In the studio as on stage, he displays a softness marking a certain distance from the sound of Double Date With Death: the amps did not overheat during his suave singing turn, the musician placing his words on flowing grooves, knitted by a competent orchestra in which we notably found Patrick Gosselin, bassist of Le Couleur. We would have expected to read his name higher in the preliminary list; currently in eighth position (out of nine candidates reaching the semi-finals) and with three other preliminary evenings to come, his journey at the Francouvertes should end here.
Second to appear on stage on Tuesday, Nectar Palace – the project of singer-songwriter Shaun Pouliot, collaborator of Super Plage and Radiant Baby – offered a more danceable sound, “between rock and electronic music”, as he described it. -even, which we had not yet heard since the beginning of this 28e edition of Francouvertes. Everything to his advantage: his dynamic pop-funk songs passed like a breath of fresh wind on the stage of the Lion d’Or, sometimes reminiscent of a wiser, but just as playful version of what Hubert Lenoir offers.
Loïc Lafrance had two great strengths – even three, counting the work of his versatile and explosive companions. The first: rock songs with catchy choruses (nothing radically new here, a little Plume, the country touch of Alex Burger, the warmth of the more seventies from Bon Enfant), those from his album Celebration (2022) and the most recent micro-album Theater / Violence. The other, just as important: this guy arrives on stage dressed as a cowboy like Beyoncé wearing a sequinned hat and a mop of dandelion yellow hair with the firm intention of having some fun and give it to us. We’ll talk about it again, since we already see it in the semi-finals.
Just like singer-songwriter Karolan Boily, the star of last Monday’s evening. Last January, she launched her first album entitled The fire under the roof, on which she purges herself of the bad experiences experienced in recent years with an indie rock song following the path traced by Salomé Leclerc, the words here having as much relevance as the melodies, the guitar playing and the interpretation, Boily having a strong nice bit of voice. His fourth preliminary position testifies to the strength of his proposal.
Otherwise, Monday evening will have made few waves. Corail took sixth position thanks to the work of its accompanists: alone on stage in the introduction, roommates and accomplices in the creation Philippe Noël and Julien Comptour, singers and guitarists, displayed their nervousness, painfully delivering a first song. The arrival of the orchestra seemed to give them the confidence to get through the short half hour allotted, with the pretty but conventional folk pop songs from their first album, Home, published independently last fall. Promising project, but still green; the experience of Francouvertes will give them wings.
Finally, let’s hope that the indie pop group Folaube, led by singer and guitarist Emmanuel Harvey-Langlois, also draws lessons from its time at Francouvertes. The group’s inexperience showed on stage, as they “tested new songs” in front of an audience with less conviction than Nectar Palace did. We even believed that Harvey-Langlois was also fighting a nasty virus as his voice lacked authority, not allowing the compositions (which were, moreover, well put together) to leave the best possible impression.
The last three preliminary evenings of these 28are Francouvertes will still take place at the Lion d’Or on March 25, 26 and 27.
The preliminary list
Playlist – Week 2 Competitors