The first thing that strikes while listening Suite for personJeanne Côté’s debut album, is her voice, whose clarity and vibrancy reveal the full depth of her soul — an old soul, to use a cliché that applies very well here.
Daughter of the great honcho of the Festival de Petite-Vallée in Gaspésie, Alan Côté, the young singer-songwriter has been immersed in music all her life, and you can hear it. She masters the chansonniere form but without locking herself into it, for example allowing herself to play with the verse-chorus-verse construction. And with her co-directors Émilie Proulx and Arthur Bourdon-Durocher, the Kate Bush fan that she is gave the whole thing a soft and soaring atmosphere, carried by the movement of the waves from her corner of – there is movement in these songs full of intranquility, on which she accompanies herself on the piano.
In addition to his very beautiful cover of I’m not there for anyonea song by Daniel Lavoie whose lyrics are by Sylvain Lelièvre, Jeanne Côté has written about ten delicate pieces that speak of human relationships, of finding one’s place in the world, of life that is not always easily tamed.
If some texts are sometimes a little too down to earth to fit perfectly with the lightness of the melodies, Jeanne Côté also knows how to translate the torments and hopes of a young adult and succeeds with her voice so just and nuanced in giving together a poetic dimension. On songs like Y can get wet, The wave Where bird alarm clockit has inflections that literally give the shivers.
Above all, with its hazy and bittersweet atmosphere, Jeanne Côté already has a well-established universe, which will be defined from album to album, because one thing is certain: there will be others, and that’s good.
Song
Suite for person
Jeanne Cote
Independent