On Horses of PleasureIsabelle Boulay straddles the indomitable songs of Alain Bashung without taming them too much.
Resuming Bashung is a daring gesture as his songs are stuck to his voice, his tone, his phrasing, in short, his unique way. You have to manage to make this strange language sound natural while letting you hear what’s behind the shaped images to escape overly literal interpretations. It is necessary to stage the poetic shocks without underlining them so as not to lose the emotional charge. And we must not water down the many erotic innuendos…
The beginning of pleasure horses is promising: the few guitar notes in the intro of You missed me and the chic western atmosphere quickly woven by the sounds and the arrangements show the desire to give this song the panache it demands. Prudent, Isabelle Boulay sets her voice on the melody once sung by Bashung without taking too many liberties. She will hardly dare to move away from her guide, moreover, throughout the disc.
Most of the album skilfully stays in a zone close to refined country-folk, more or less tempted by rock, depending on the moment. It fits perfectly I pass for a caravanone of the most successful songs. no express on the other hand loses part of its emotional charge under a panoply of arrangements which are nevertheless intended to be economical. The only real surprise of the disc on the musical level, my small businessmade pop and almost groovy by a fuzzy melodic line. Maybe it’s a way to show that the song isn’t really about a small business owner…
And the interpreter? She advances in these pieces with a certain precaution. It generally lets the meaning hover (it does not underline the underside of lady dream, the most sensual text of the album), without soaking too much in the melancholy that we know him. It sometimes remains on the surface of things, as on no expressa heartbreaking song that she renders with more distance than restraint, and we regret not feeling enough of the mischievous smile that Bashung subtly breathed into her fleeting songs.
Isabelle Boulay, however, never seems to be parachuted into this universe which, obviously, inhabits her. She has the elegance needed to approach these pieces. His singing lacks a bit of spice, but his voice is, as always, magnificent, full of nuances. She doesn’t make Bashung’s songs whinny, but is immediately one of the few who have been able to put them on without being thrown off their feet.
country folk
The horses of pleasure – Boulay sings Bashung
Isabelle Boulay
Audiogram