We Brits seem to have a thing for the French. Despite occasional xenophobic mutterings about snails and baguettes, many of us are partial to a husky Gallic songstress. From Edith Piaf to Charlotte Gainsbourg, even the most cynical Brit is liable to go weak at the knees when faced with a good, old-fashioned chanteuse. How else can you explain the international success of French covers band Nouvelle Vague? Floaty, bossa nova renderings of cherished acts such as The Specials and The Cure should have the fanatics up in arms, yet somehow British audiences have been won over. I for one suspect this might have something to do with the seductive, half whispered vocals of the likes of Marina Celeste.
Celeste was discovered by Nouvelle Vague’s Marc Collin when she was 23, a former law student who studied piano as a child. This chance meeting turned out to be her break. As well as touring with the group and selling millions, she has released two solo albums well received in her native country, and is seeking to cross the channel with her third, The Angel Pop, a collaboration between Celeste and The Specials legend Terry Hall.
Like fellow former Nouvelle Vague vocalist gone solo Camille, Celeste is an unpredictable proposition. The influence of her work with the band is clear, but as she explains, she seeks to embrace unexpected directions in her solo material. “This album ventures to the outer edges of pop. There’s an electronic atmosphere, and funny moments too, we really mixed a lot of styles… I think today, artists and singers should not be trapped into one particular style or sound!” Clearly keen to emphasise this point, Celeste reinforces her sophisticated Parisian credentials by quoting Rimbaud: “music and love are ‘open to reinvention’”.
Unsurprisingly Celeste’s list of inspirations is similarly eclectic and delivered with palpable enthusiasm: “I love Michel Legrand for his big melodies, I’m a huge fan of his… I also love movie music like the composer Lalo Schiffrin – groovy! Michael Jackson – I was a teenager when he released ‘Billie Jean’ – [and] Depeche Mode, Kate Bush…dreamy 80s music. I also like some some of the music from the 60s… with a lot of orchestration.” This love of soundtracks is particularly clear in an album that Celeste accurately describes as “something like a movie soundtrack spliced with some brilliant pop moments.” Songs such as the hypnotically cyclical ‘The Lovers’, suggest an underlying fragility and are easy to imagine meandering through a Jean-Luc Godard movie. Such moments of introspection are contrasted with moments of full throttle unapologetic pop such as the joyfully bonkers “Planet Claire”, so sixties in it’s swing beat and brass stabs that it’s a little bit Austin Powers (in a good way).
Given that she is used to singing covers and being backed by an established group I wonder if Celeste is nervous about going it alone. She remains charmingly upbeat: “It is absolutely beautiful to try personal things. I’m not afraid,I’m sure that we propose some really lovely and deep songs. Of course, I know how it is difficult today, to exist when you do your own things… alone. But it is better to try than not? Isn’t it?” So has she noticed any differences between British and French audiences? “The idea of the audience… because England is mythic place for pop music. We want to be good, we’re proud to play there. In France, people seem to be tired or not curious enough… I don’t like to play in Paris… [I prefer] to play to an audience that doesn’t know me as well.”
Although it is true that she is not yet a recognisable name in the UK, it is surely folly to dismiss Marina Celeste as another wispy chanteuse exploiting romantic British notions of the chanson. When I ask about her plans for the future Celeste’s deceptively cool reply reveals steely ambition. “I want to be free to create. I want to sing, compose, write, paint, do films and videos and maybe even fashion… I want to reach higher than before and improve myself…” Watch your backs British scenesters, the French are coming, and they mean business…
Marina Celeste is playing Fibbers York on April 13th