Madness Factor

About a month ago, a one-line post on MetaFilter tipped me off to the existence of Emilie Simon, a musician and producer who already has quite a following in her native France. After visiting the links to her music and hearing how good it was, I was surprised she hadn’t broken over here yet. I then did a bit of googling and learned Simon composed the music for the French release of Marche De L’Empereur — known to us Yanks as The March of the Penguins – but American movie / music execs balked at the idea of using the original soundtrack for the U.S. release of the film, fearing American audiences wouldn’t find Simon’s music accessible. Simon’s latest release, The Flower Book, is on its way to proving those execs don’t have a clue about American audiences — or music.

Read more below the fold.

The Flower Book is a compilation of material from Simon’s 2003 self-titled debut, her 2006 release Végétal, and Marche De L’Empereur. Simon’s music — and production — are reminiscent of Kate Bush in the Hounds of Love days, but her hook-infused, creatively recorded compositions also reveal a style uniquely her own. Simon has a wonderful sense of melody, and a great gift for creating lush arrangements from an unusual array of sounds. Her songs interweave traditional instruments such as piano, guitar, drums, bass, and strings with a variety of sound effects — not the pre-recorded sounds that come bundled with music production software, but recordings Simon creates herself from real-world noise, then thoughtfully adapts for use in her music. (According to one bio, Simon’s sound engineer father had a studio, which afforded her the opportunity to learn her way around recording equipment at a fairly young age. Another reveals she is well schooled in music composition, too, having not only studied on her own, but also formally at IRCAM [Acoustic/Musical Research and Co-ordination Institute]. )

My copy of The Flower Book came with 17 tracks, including a bonus track — “Alicia” — and a second version of the track “Desert,” in French and remixed by Thievery Corporation. Of the 17 songs, seven are sung in French, and the rest are in English. All tracks on The Flower Book are solid, but among the standouts are the edgy opener, “Song of the Storm,” the soft and sultry “Desert” (the original version, although the remix is wonderfully dreamy), and the clever Stooges cover, “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” My favorite is “Le vieil amant,” a sparse, delicate ballad sung in French and punctuated with rhythmic clicks, clangs and twitters.

I’ve had The Flower Book about a month now. In the short time I’ve had the album, I’ve seen Simon popping up in more and more American music press. Despite the myopic assertions of the U.S. March of the Penguins execs, American audiences are taking notice of Simon, and definitely liking what they hear.

If you want a taste, here are a few links to some of her songs on YouTube:

Le vieil amant

Fleur de Saison

Desert (In French. On the album, the original version is in English, and the remix is in French)