Ever the anachronism, Marianne Dissard gives us a compilation album this time around with “Cibola Gold” managing, through skilled assemblage, to encompass the best of her songs and present them in a manner that might best be described as sinuous.
Ms. Discard is, and never has been, one to rest on her laurels with each of her albums skewing her talent in a new direction. That would, of course, make the selection of songs for a compilation somewhat difficult as assembling a jigsaw without the picture of the final article might be. That said, “Cibola Gold” shows that it can be done with the desire to own all that she has done a likely result.
Listen to the maturity that drives “The One and Only” ever forward. The song is layered into a sonic weapon that is targeted at your ears. “Election” could only be a song borne of a French singer as, infused by chanson, it seems more performance than art yet the very drama provides all the truth you might need. Talking of drama, “Pomme” is so gloriously intense that you feel sure that the song should be the theme to the next James Bond movie and yet “Un Gros Chat” shows a mastery of subtlety that successfully masks the intensity of her words.
An enigma? A chanteuse? Marianne Dissard is all that and more.
The album is available from Bandcamp.