Melanie Pain is best known as the sultry voice behind Nouvelle Vague. She's made a career of whispering over 80s electronic classics and very good she is at it too. I hadn't realised that she had made a solo album, My Name, a year or two ago until I picked up a copy recently.
I like it a lot. It's a lot more conventional than the bossa nova lounge style of her day job and I've returned to the album a few times now. It starts off with a very 'French singer with guitar' sort of affair. It would feel quite home in an Emilie Simone album. So far so good. We then get a bit retro with the likes of 'Bruises' that has a sort of 60s hook to them. 'Helsinki' puts us firmly in Morcheeba country. Not surprising as both Morcheeba and Ms Pain have a deep love for folk with a soul edge to it. Neil Young, Nick Drake, Beth Orton all have left a big influence and it shows.
The title track is an intimate acoustic number where she confesses to not yet knowing herself. Perhaps this is a reference to the musical style that she calls her own. I hope she pursues her journey through albums such as this. It would be a waste of a talent for her to typecast herself as a kitsch singer of songs in an ironic style. Saying that she has a lot of fun with 'Little Cowboys'. It sounds like one of those Andrews Sisters doo-wop songs from the 40s. Fortunately it's very short so the joke doesn't start to grate and then we're back to the serious stuff.
The rest of the album takes a very Gallic turn now. La Cigarette is very French, not just because it's sung entirely in her mother tongue but it's a tad cliched for my liking. It's just a bit too earnest and is probably the weakest song on the album. 'Celle De Mes 20 Ans' is also sung in French but a bit more whimsical with a lovely Carpenters-esque guitar interlude. L'espace D'un Instant doesn't work well for me. I'm not sure where she intended to go with this song and is instantly forgettable. It's a shame but there you go. 'Everything I Know' is much better and rescues the album from turning into twee dinner party mood music. It reminds me a bit of Martina Topley-Bird and is infuriatingly catchy. The penultimate song is also in French and once again doesn't quite hit the mark. It's odd that it's the French language songs that aren't pushing my buttons with this album. Normally I'm a sucker for that usually. The album reprises with a 70s style ragtime 'If You Knew'. I haven't heard this style of song in a long time and I am now inspired to dig out a Lynsey De Paul album now!
Melanie Pain alluded in the album to not 'knowing her name' and I think she proves that here but it's been fun listening to her search for it. There's been a few dead ends and I dare say there will be in the future but I hope she carries on the journey. I'll be a willing Sancho Panza to her Don Quixote.
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