Sophie Zelmani - My Song

If No Money Kids or Kaleo, my previous cards, were poison, then Sophie Zelmani would be the absolute antidote.

Her music is soothing, and I often put it in my ears at night to fall asleep with. I imagine my sleep then is of better quality.

My song is probably not her best album amongst the 11 (not her worst either), but I felt I had to let her appear in japprecie for the whole of her work.

Immediately, a song stood out: "The Happy Woman Cries". No doubt, it’s the Sophie I love at once: lively, folk, intoxicating, whirling. Of course, this is not new; she did dozens after this pattern, from "Happier Man" to "Story of Us" by way of "Yes I Am". But it still works!

I then took an interest in the calmer pieces. There’s a folk neighbourhood with Tom McRae; both have in common the ability to use the silences. Except Tom can pile instruments up whereas Sophie appears a lot more minimalist.
In her little songs indeed, there’s nothing... but everything. Everything to be enough. Containing a big emotional charge. The very essence of each song is brought out. Lars Halapi’s delicate instrumentations (see their fineness on "No Victims") like Sophie’s whispering voice – by choice! – give in to this aim. Because for her (like for Daran), a song is 50% lyrics 50% music. And she signs everything herself, willingly making reference to Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen.

So you move from a mood to another, from sun to rain ("Bless Me"), you take shelter in dreaming ("Dreams Are Better"), in questioning about love ("I Wonder") and about couple ("This Prison"), in writing ("My Song" – with its snippets of old tracks like "Happier Man", "I'm the Rain", "Should I Tell You"). In short, an introspection, almost a therapy, better after all than an antidote against all that poisons us.