I was thinking about cakes. That’s something that I often do. You could even say that I have a patisserie obsession or, at least, you could if I happened to be in France. Unfortunately, I am not in France but, talking of matters that are in all possibility French, at least my ears could appreciate the sweetness that is to be found in Pilote’s album “Sous Les Oliviers”.
When it comes to music, I have something of a fondness for the chanson style and there something of the chanteuse in Pilote even if, as this is indeed the twenty first century, the theatricality so essential to the aforementioned genre has been replaced with a presentation that is less intense and more concerned with stylised introspection. This may sound like the songs on this album are lightweight but they aren’t really for anyone who can create a literate lyric in either English or French isn’t likely to have too much trouble getting their point across and, whilst matters of the heart do indeed provide some of her inspiration, it would seem that Pilote and soul searching are clearly far from strangers.
It would not be unfair to regard “Sous Les Oliviers” as a work of some sensitivity yet there is more than one note in her emotional spectrum and, when combined with her occasionally obscured pop sensibilities, this album becomes one that is both easy on the ear and one that exudes a certain consequential charm. Anyway, any album that has a song that you have to sing along with must be good and I was singing along with “Comme Tu Es”. Yes, there are times when even I forget to be cynical.