Vincent Delerm
chanson française // singer-songwriter
Vincent Delerm revives French chanson tradition by incorporating certain retro elements with his eccentric tendencies and the feeling of melancholy. Catchy, jaunty piano driven “Il Fait Si Beau” is vibrant with enthusiasm, while “Natation Synchronisée” charms with its whimsical string arrangements, Vincent’s calm, relaxed voice. Pianist, composer and singer, Vincent possesses a good sense of humour, and his elegant songwriting style keeps the chanson compelling and modern.
Surprising blend of youthfulness and nostalgia.
Vincent Delerm – Il Fait Si Beau
Vincent Delerm – Natation Synchronisée
buy this cd
Vincent has a new album coming out real soon, called Favourite Songs, featuring duets with Neil Hannon, Helena Noguerra, Jeanne Cherhal & Albin de la Simone, Georges Moustaki and Benjamin Biolay! Yay!
formid!
Vincent Delerm is not reviving any tradition. He’s an insult to traditional French chanson. He can’t sing, nor can he write poetry (as great French songwriters were poets). I’m ashamed that he’s what foreigners know of contemporary French music.
Aurgasm has featured quite a few contemporary French artists, so the readers can try the songs and see what fits them.
In my opinion, Vincent Delerm is not a poet in the true sense of the word, he is a good narrator, a compelling one.
Quite a few have been featured indeed, but they were all the wrong ones !
Quite a few of our readers have enjoyed the music, liked the posts.
Perhaps you wouldn’t mind telling who are the right ones in your opinion? I’d definitely like to hear your suggestions for contemporary French artists. Who are the best ones?
First, you don’t have to listen to contemporary music.
So, the classical trio of magnificient French-speaking singer-songwriters : Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, and Léo Ferré.
Léo Ferré died years ago, but he has a spiritual son : Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine. I don’t know him much, but it ought to be better than the yé-yé’s.
You have Renaud, too. If you can get past the occasional leftist bullshit, the songs are really well-written, and funny. I know tens of them by heart.
Another big name : Michel Polnareff. Great voice, great songs.
And another : Jacques Dutronc. Closer to the yé-yé crowd. Funny songs.
Contemporary you ask ? Here :
Noir Désir is a succesful rock band (well it was before the singer went to jail) whose lyrics blow Vincent Delerm’s out of the water. And they can ROCK too !
Then, Ange. Great band.
Then, Zao. Not to be confused whith the Metalcore American band.
And greatest of all, MAGMA. They don’t have french lyrics though. Probably the best music that spawned in France in the last 30 years.
(Sorry if my English is a bit broken.)
Velt, thanks very much for your comprehensive response. While we appreciate wonderful French/French-speaking singer-songwriters and poets, classic French chanson, Aurgasm has a tendency to not feature rock bands. I’ll check out your suggestions on my own, but due to our audience’s tastes, we probably won’t see them on the site.. Thanks!
I really love the lyrics of Vincent Delerm’s songs, especially “Il fait si beau”. I think this song alone makes it really worth learning French!
Please keep up your great website!
I love that there is no rock on this blog, this is really great as I think rock is already everywhere in today’s mainstream culture.
Dude, it’s as if you were saying The Teletubbies made it worth learning English.
Also, I only mentionned one rock band, that is Noir Désir.
If you are fed up with rock, instead of going for tasteless minimalistic tinkering, go for the real deal : MAGMA.
Velt, everyone has to start somewhere.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Of course. It’s just that I don’t like to see imitators taking the place of the originals. Vincent Delerm tries to embody the stereotype of the feminine, thoughtful, mysterious poet. Not working. Just compare him to Jacques Brel, you will hear for yourself.
hi there
thanks for the blog and the many discoveries…
I’m one of your faithful french readers… maybe you can tell from my english.
I’m not too fond of Delerm either (but who cares…)
I just wanted to say that Jacques Brel is not french.
He’s belgian.
I seriously think that his inspiration & genius has a lot to see with his “belgian-ness”.
Though most french journalists speak of him as one of the big names of the “chanson française”, i think he should not reasonably be considered as such. To me it’s just as if people talked about Leonard Cohen as a great californian artist.
In addition to the french artists you’ve already mentionned here on aurgasm, here’s a selection of contemporary french-singing artists you could probably enjoy too : Arlt, Jeanne Balibar , Barbara Carlotti, Superflu, JP Nataf, Bertrand Belin, Orwell and Montgomery.
They all have myspace pages so you can just go for a quick listen and – who knows – possibly fall in love with their songs.
For all you lovers (and haters) of Delerm: on my blog two songs from his latest (cover)album, plus the originals.
Veld has it right about some of the French groups, except Renaud. Please if you refer to what he’d written 20 years ago, then we may agree.
I would like to highlight Thiefaine, who’s an underground singer for thirty years but still gathers a huge crowd of fans around him.
Nevertheless, I won’t let Veld be a downer on Delerm and also Daphne, that you have to focus on.
It’s a bit unfortunate that the songs for Delerm have been “Natation synchronisee” and “Il fait si beau” as he wrote so much better. “Marine”, “Chatenay Malabry”, “Le basier Modiano” and “Veruca salt et Frank Black” imho would have more demonstrated Delerm’s talent.
Wow… what a commotion! Although I don’t understand the French language, I love “Il Fait Si Beau” in particular… the production, the melody, Delerm’s vocal style. Thanks Aurgasm for doing – for me at least – what you set out to do. I love my visits here and am often introduced to new artists that I explore further. Music is so personal, you can’t expect to enjoy every post, but Aurgasm continually provides a trip that’s worth taking. Cheers.
Best of Aurgasm – Rollmops Mixtape Vol.2…
Julija lebt in Litauens Hauptstadt Vilnius, Paul kommt aus Boston, Massachusetts. Beide betreiben seit 2004 die Webseite aurgasm.us, mit der sie Musik vorstellen, die sich im Spannungsfeld zwischen Ostblock und Ostküste befindet. Das mag jetzt nach h…
“assis en tailleur dur le canapé, je relis cosmopolitan”
what a great song, i love delerm, listen and listen again to his songs