So Frenchy So Chic Live

A DOUBLE BILL – EMILIE SIMON AND MELANIE PAIN (FRANCE)

So Frenchy So Chic Live returns with more French flavours to grace Australian stages…

Known for their effervescent, engaging and sometimes offbeat performances, Australians are once again invited to embrace the hip double bill of Emilie Simon and Melanie Pain who will warm stages around the country late September. With more than 300 shows under their belts, the much-loved French singer-songwriters promise an evening of savvy pop, intriguing stories and delicious melodies.

Emilie Simon the artist who makes every song an adventure will be showcasing her third album, The Big Machine, which was written and recorded after she moved to New York. The breathtaking result is a collection of rich and sensual songs featuring musicians like Kelly Pratt and Jeremy Gara of Arcade Fire and Beirut’s John Natchez. Inventive and charming, as she always is, The Big Machine is Simon’s most accessible and personal record to date.

If Melanie Pain were to sing the phone book, she’d make it sexy purely on conviction. Best known as the lead singer of the French band Nouvelle Vague, Pain seduced audiences with her breathy renditions of 80s pop. If Nouvelle Vague is like a beach, then Pain’s solo material is city-bound and more intense. Her romantically-tinged solo album, My Name, draws on influences like Nick Cave, Harry Nilsson and Leonard Cohen but you’ll also hear Pain’s love for American folk and pop intertwined with chanson. As cultural tastes have become more and more fragmented and the power of niche styles has increased, nowhere is that more obvious than the popularity of French music in Australia. Alongside a continued love for French cinema, our taste in French music is rapidly maturing as fans seek an interesting and intelligent alternative to Hollywood and mainstream pop. 

Emilie Simon and Melanie Pain’s return to Australia is proof audiences embrace the unique when it has an interesting story to tell. Linked to Cartell Music’s successful So Frenchy So Chic series this double-header tour promises an intimate evening from two brilliant and well travelled singer-songwriters. 

“Emilie Simon’s third album takes the trend for cabaret off-stage and into recorded music” The Daily Telegraph.

“Paris Les Inrockuptibles trumpets Emilie Simon’s The Big Machine as having horizons as wide as Texas and spirits as light as helium in this surreal cabaret backdrop, the tricks, illusions and contrasts are countless. Pain’s first album is practically a beginner’s guide to contemporary French pop” Rave.

7.30pm: Melanie Pain
8.30pm: Interval
8.50pm: Emilie Simon

Duration 2hrs 30mins