Although already breeding a luminous reputation in his native land, Parisian chanteur Pierre Sibille has only just now had his music released in the USA. Held together by an entente cordiale of elegant blues and warm jazz notes, "If I Ain't Got You" should help establish Sibille as one of France's best exports in the last ten years. C'est magnifique.
Right from the get-go, on "Your Smile", a feeling of timelessness permeates as if this album could have been recorded at any time in the past 60 years. This is largely down to the quality of Sibille's backing musicians and his own command of the Hammond and harmonica. On the other hand, there is nothing about "Ain't Worth A Damn" that cries out for your attention, but you'll struggle to ignore the quietly infectious sound and soon the music will put your mind at ease. Almost intoxicating.
Being a full-blooded Frenchman, Sibille can perhaps be forgiven for sneaking a few French-language songs onto the album. In fact, those of a slightly more cultured extraction might even appreciate these songs ("Le Sprinter" and "Merde a Vauban", for two) as being of extra worth to the album. There's something about the blues being delivered in the French tongue that just sounds right. Whether that's a universal truth or just true of Sibille is yet to be determined but Sibille does it extremely well.
Ordinarily, an album that predominantly concerns love songs will lose the listener's attention before long but this is not true of "Since I Ain't Got You" in the slightest. From start to finish, Sibille has captured the essence of traditional R&B and entwined it in his own unique style, in an album that runs smooth as wine flows.
Available from CD Baby.