Album a Day: Mélanie Pain - My Name

Born in Caen, France, Mélanie Pain first came to the attention of American audiences for her work in the musical collective known as Nouvelle Vague (known for their bossa nova-style covers of punk, post-punk, modern rock, new wave, and goth songs) as a featured vocalists on some of my favorite songs like Echo & The Bunnymen's "Killing Moon", the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love", and Lords of The New Church's "Dance With Me" amongst others. Mélanie Pain is probably my favorite vocalist in Nouvelle Vague (and there are so many talents to choose from) with her sweet, coy style that like the woman you want to marry is sexy because its beautiful, something that can be heavily seen when Pain plays live with the rest of the lineup. All of this alluring charm is put center-stage in her 2009 debut solo album My Name and highlighted by this collection of original songs. The eleven to fourteen tracks (depending on which release you get) put together by a few people including music largely by Benoît De Villeneuve with contributions by 1973 and Nouvelle Vague-contributor Phoebe Killdeer, lyrics by Pain and Pap Deziel, guest vocals by Norwegian sensation Thomas Dybdahl and Julien Doré, executive producing by Marc Collin (one of the geniuses behind Nouvelle Vague), and a slew of musicians playing various instruments throughout the album. As complex as all that sounds there's a very simple nature to the album that can really steer the whole things by its emotions which really allows the listener to get lost in the music. I think it was a smart choice for Pain to sing in both English and French as people expect the french given her background but an American audience obviously identifies much closer with songs in English so there are plenty of chances for radio friendly singles like "Everything I Know" and the cover of Harry Nilsson's "Little Cowboy". In keeping with Pain's Nouvelle Vague roots (Pain being one of the singers that was little known before her Nouvelle Vague days) Little Cowboy isn't the only cover as the extended version of the album also contains a really great cover of Blur's "Girls and Boys". For me a lot of the songs evoke thoughts of various film styles like the obvious French New Wave but also a song like "Helsinki" almost makes me think of a Spaghetti Western. There are a few odd discrepancies between releases as one version of the album only contains eleven tracks while other releases (including the itunes version) list thirteen or fourteen with the additions of "Girls and Boys", "Sans L'Ombre De Toi", a really cool demo track titled "Prendre Le Jour" and the song "Adieu Mon Amour" is titled on later releases as "L'Espace D'Un Instant". Translated the original title is Goodbye My Love whereas the 2nd title means The Space of a Moment, which I just think is a better name for a song anyway. Despite any confusion, I love this release because there's a great mix of indie-pop, folk, neo-classical, and a bit of 60's French Pop. The album supplies a range of emotions, Pain's vocals are beautiful, the version I have of the CD comes in a really nice thing digipak with a beautiful drawing of Pain as the cover art (the later releases feature an ok head-shot-esque picture of Pain), good covers, great originals, catchy hooks, basically everything you could want from a debut. Favorite Tracks: My Name, Celle De Vingt Ans, Everything I Know, Helsinki, La Cigarette, Adieu Mon Amour (or L'Espace D'Un Instant if you prefer), Girls And Boys, and Prendre le jour (Démo)