Lio

It took five years, encouragements from sister Helena, threats of kidnapping, a short disappearance and a small studio somewhere in a Swedish forest, but finally, it's here: Dites Au Prince Charmant, the marvellous comeback of Wanda Ribeiro de Vasconcelos, better known as Lio. 43 years old right now, but she still looks ravishing. No more electropop, but clever, beautifully arranged acoustic songs with lyrics about loneliness, disillusionment and dreams that did not came true. In this interview, Lio tells about some Iranian former acquintance, who threatened to take her kids to Iran. "I did not want to re-enact the movie Not Without My Daughter", she says about the time she hid in the city of Montpellier.
The album was produced, and almost completely written by Doriand and Bertrand Burgalat-collaborator Peter von Poehl. She passed around some ideas before with Doriand, but when he wrote the song L'Âge des Saisons for here, the puzzlepieces fell into place. There's one cover, Attend ou va-t'en, written by Serge and made famous by France Gall in 1964. The new, grown-up Lio has been compared to Françoise Hardy and Keren Ann, and Dites Au Prince Charmant album certainly can match the best work of these singers. But still, she has to work in a pub do yoghurt-commercials to make ends meet: "J'avais besoin d'argent, donc j'ai accepté l'autre pub."

Lio - Vieil Ami
Hear Here

Lio - L'Âge des Saisons
Hear Here

Lio - Attend ou va-t'en
Hear Here

France Gall - Attend ou va-t'en
Hear Here