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MORE THAN A ROCK CHIC CD REVIEWS
Sunday Herald, The, Apr 6, 2008 by Barry Didcock
CAMILLE***
Music Hole (Charisma)
CAMILLE Dalmais is from Paris, though you would never know it from her American English singing voice. But French she most certainly is. She has already enjoyed some success on the other side of the Channel courtesy of her 2005 album Le Fil, and you can also hear her on the first two Nouvelle Vague albums singing songs (in English) by The Clash, XTC and The Dead Kennedys.
Punk rock isn't what she's about, however: it's soul music, operatic pop and scat jazz that make Camille tick.
That said, Music Hole is unashamedly experimental too.
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The lyrics, mostly sung in English, are prettily nonsensical (Dalmais sings about her "hamster-in-law" at one point on opener Gospel With No Lord) and for her musical backing she has assembled a menagerie of natural sounds that ranges from running water to exotic jungle noises. That creates texture. Providing the rhythms are the noises made by Camille and her British producer, Majiker. It's handclaps, doo-woops and oohaahs for the most part with the odd chuckle or holler thrown in. It works well on some songs, but it's a flimsy basis for an entire album, even with a voice like hers.
Kfir and closing track Sanges Sweet are the straightest, the first an R'n'B-tinged yearning for physical closeness, the second a piano-driven mash-up of Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Bjork. But for all the earnestness of those songs it's the humour and eccentricity obvious elsewhere which saves Music Hole. Cats And Dogs starts out like a Juliette Greco torchsong then turns into something Frank Zappa might have cooked up after too much tequila. Money Note, meanwhile, sounds like Missy Elliott backed by a very stoned barber shop quartet - or Cleo Laine fronting a team of human beatboxes, I can't decide which.
Either way, I like it.
DOWNLOAD THIS: Money Note
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