[Criticism] L (Raphaële Lannadère): the sweetness of a new lace album

3 years after his second eponymous album, L (Raphaële Lannadère) is back with a new opus, Chansons. A work imbued with delicacy, which is only an auditory delight.

In 2007, the EP Premières Lettres introduced the artist L to the public, propelled by the titles Jalouse and Petite. 4 years later, Raphaële Lannadère is rewarded with a gold record for her first album Initial, and is compared to the immense Barbara by the famous Télérama. She proves that she is indeed an artist in her own right since the same year, she is the winner of the Félix-Leclerc prize as well as the Barbara prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture.A success that diminishes with the release of the second album in 2015, despite a convincing work.

An album that mixes delicacy with poetic notes

This Friday, February 23, 2018, Raphaële Lannadère offers herself a special birthday gift: the release of her 3rd studio album. Chansons, it is the name of this new work filled with sweetness which is an invitation to travel. A simple and refined title, which is the perfect reflection of this refined album. It is surrounded by the remarkable duo Clément Ducol and Maxime Le Guil who sign the realization and the arrangements of the record, that Raphaële Lannadère reveals an irreproachable alloy between melodies and poetry.

Chansons takes over a piano, a quartet of strings, all gilded with a few notes of harp and sprinkled with electronic music. Forty minutes of musical walk conducive to an imperturbable tranquility, composed and written for almost all of them by the singer. She offers 11 titles, in which she handles the language of Molière with skill and finesse. The powerful soul of the songs is carried by poetic resonances, enhanced by a deep and untied voice.

We first kiss La Meuse, who soars in violins and goes out on the harp. We say "ui" at this prodigious entry, adorned with autobiographical lyrics. The title Ton Enfance echoes motherhood, embellished by the strings and subtle almost childlike hums that add a part of truth. It was also the first song that L brought to light.

Laissez Passer is decorated by a very melodious voice while restrained, which vaguely reminds us of those of Camille or Juliette Armanet. We are bewitched by the soaring Tant Pis, then Vertige which underlines the time that flies. Monotony is never achieved; The songs are endowed with a singular atmosphere that links them in harmony.

After Ne me Libérez pas, La Micheline rushes to then make Ta Ville heard, with a disturbing atmosphere, slightly erased at the arrival of suspicions of harp, which color with light. A message that evokes Paris, a city where life is good, where freedom is advocated, however healed by the attacks.

It's a topic the singer also addresses in Orlando, paying tribute to the shooting that occurred in June 2016. Overwhelming, she sings "for a summer, your sky cries too much" before adding her poignant "Let me be gay". She commits at the end of the song to the English words beautifully sung like a cry from the heart that sounds. Raphaële Lannadère takes us on board. She closes this album with Tempête, then Tu Dors, which rock us once again with finesse and intelligence.

The audio of the sublime Your Childhood

L plunges us into simplicity and unctuousness through this album, signing a successful return. She manipulates words to perfection, around accomplished melodies. The singer exudes a sensual atmosphere, which carries us away and transports us. A lace album, illuminated by a soothing voice defined by immense purity, which will be heard in concert on March 29, 2018 at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris.