SOTD #141 // Le Volume Courbe: ‘I Love The Living You’

It is fair to say France has a history of strong women. During the French Revolution there was a group of women named the Petroliers who essentially went about petrol bombing anyone who they felt stood in the way of their aims and needs. Flash forward to recently and, in a musical sense, French women have been just at sharp and emotionally deadly. Anti-folk artist SoKo proved this point with cutting songs such as ‘I’ll Kill Her’, a tune that more than flirts with the idea of slaughtering a love rival. However, French women can also instil that passion onto the other end of the emotive spectre. This is demonstrated by French-born but London-based Charlotte Marionneau, who has been crafting timidly beautiful songs since 2001 under the moniker Le Volume Courbe.

It’s refreshing to hear a delicate French voice sing a genuinely sincere song about love without a hint of cynicism. ‘I Love The Living You’ is one such song. A simple affair, Marionneau is flanked by none other than full-time shoegazer Kevin Shields and builds the song slowly with just acoustic guitar and accordion. It’s a shame autumn has just settled in as it has a very lazy sunny afternoon feel about it. A perfect anti-thesis from the bile bestowed upon us by her compatriots, while showing just as much passion. If you look back at her discography she seems to have had a change of heart since ‘I Killed My Best Friend’ was released. A welcome change, that is.

‘I Love The Living You’ is taken from the Roky Erickson/13th Floor Elevators tribute album The Psychedelic Sounds Of The Sonic Cathedral, out now via Sonic Cathedral.

Le Volume Courbe: ‘I Love The Living You’