World Music Album Reviews

ElodieO : Stubborn

Born and raised in Paris, France, Elodie's father was a part-time Jazz musician who could play piano, bass & clarinet and her neighbours were the famous Eiffel family who encourages the pursuit of all things artistic. Encouraged by them, she began cello at the age of eight and not long afterwards had her first musical epiphany:

"I remember seeing a classic American musical on TV at the Eiffel's,
and it was like, how you say, when you see God?"

Elodie had just seen Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - and everything clicked into place.

Deciding that show business was her future, she enrolled in tap-dancing classes and in her teenage years led to Elodie being accepted into the Paris National Theater of Chaillot.

Later, after being cast in a successful French TV soap series, Elodie knew she had to leave Paris for London or New York to realise her musical dream.

After studying musical theatre at NYU she moved to New York and landed some small Broadway roles which disillusioned her - they weren't like the 1950's Hollywood she'd imagined.

From then Elodie alternated between New York and Paris and began moving more towards music, working with Manuel Bienvenu in 2000 and forming the minimal pop band Elm. Elm experimented with French torch songs and tango, releasing two albums.

In recent times, Elodie has found confidence in her own song-writing skills, the outcome of which is her debut album Stubborn.

Stubborn reminds me of a cross between Björk and Air - electronica with breathy female vocals and subtle heart-beat drums - an almost plaintive sort of singing - half spoken, half sung.

Combined with a strong French accent, her singing is easy on the ears and quite trancey - everyone in the office wanted to have a listen to this album.

Some of the lyrics are quite deep, but quirky with a sort of "broken-English" feeling, such as La Mer (The Sea):

People say that everything passes
that love fades away and the wind sweeps away the prints of the lovers
people say that everything passes
that time is a stream that dissolves the air that bounds
that tightens us

Although more pop than world music, Stubborn is very listenable and it will be interesting to see what comes out of her continued collaboration with Brazilian Girls. If you like laid-back, almost surreal electronica then it's definitely worth checking out ElodieO's music.

> Find out more about ElodieO on her MySpace page