The young singer-songwriter releases a debut EP that is intriguing and already leaves listeners eager for more.
On Tuesday, May 26 in Paris, about thirty people crowded into the suffocating heat of the back room of the Cultural Center, a bar-restaurant with natural wine and a cool kids vibe from the 19th arrondissement, near the Colonel Fabien metro. They came to Blandine’s release party, the singer-songwriter releasing her first EP La Fête on Virgin.
Originally from the South of France, Blandine cut her teeth in music at the Conservatoire d’Aix-en-Provence where she learned singing and piano. Brought to the public eye by Bekar’s rap track Il existe un endroit, the pianist-singer crafts in solo an elegant alt-pop, from the delicate piano-voice of Ma sœur which recalls Chassol’s real harmonizations, to the synthwave Elle, more experimental, and concludes with an autotuned poem painted with naive and melancholic images: “The heat and the raspberries / The scented evenings, the red sun / Friends and nights out on the beach / With a touch of pink on the cheeks.”
Melismatic Delicacy
While her instrument—piano and its electronic derivatives—occupies a prominent place on her debut EP, co-produced with Hellyes!, it is her voice that leaves a lasting impression and sets Blandine apart. Her rare mastery of melisma (a melodic motif sung across multiple notes on a single syllable), which she offers a vivid glimpse of on the track La Fête, is just as stunning in a live setting. A true delight for the ears, almost evoking a distant Andalusia and its flamenco, something one can easily imagine exploring in even more adventurous terrains. At the Cultural Center’s bar, after a small intimate concert by the singer, whispers suggest that Blandine revels in quirks and that new songs are already in the works. We can’t wait to be surprised.
Blandine, La Fête (Cheval-Blanc/Virgin Records France), available on streaming platforms.
