Last July I spent a few days hanging out in downtown Toronto, and went into HMV. Now I usually never buy music from HMV because of their relatively high prices, but I was sure there must have been some local music that I wouldn’t have been able to find elsewhere. I asked a salesperson and he referred me to an artist that I’m writing this blog about.
Corneille is a very interesting artist with an even more interesting bio. He first started picking up recognition in France, Canada, and Japan, and now just recently signed with Motown, it’s dreams come true for this Canadian artist.
If you get a chance to pick up his latest album, Birth of Cornelius, it’s definitely got that old school funk/r&b that really makes you want to shake your hips. On the first song on the album, Back to Life, the drums come out nice and warm, and you’ll probably notice in his album insert that much of it was recorded on tape. With just a touch of reverb, makes you feel like you’re lying back on one of those velvet lounges.
A pleasant surprise is that the variety of songs on this album, with a bit of old school, to productions of today’s typical R&B/funk music. Love it. Harmonies aren’t only tight, but thick and warm on tracks such as “Heaven”, and grooves ride on far past the track length on “Man of this World” and “Back to Life”.
If you didn’t “know”-tice from the bio or my blog title, Corneille’s native language is French, the language of his previous albums. And boy….he makes me want to dig up my old French textbooks and learn again. Then again, it doesn’t hurt that he’s got a voice smoother than a glass of Ballantine’s on the rocks. His recording and production team did a great job of capturing his voice.
Today I had a chance to find some of his videos online, for your viewing. The first one is of him on French Idol (or something similar), singing his best selling song to date with a pretty contestant named Lucie. He also plays with James Blunt on another, and I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from him soon…
Review: 4/5 – great English language coming-out album that brings a little more sophistication and class into the R&B and funk arena.
Hey Ivan, this guy sounds really good!