Frères Sourires (13): Frédéric Truong

Another guestpost, this time it's J-W on Frédéric Truong.

One of the French artists who’s really close to my heart is the Nancy based singer/composer Frédéric Truong. I already know him since his intimate neoclassical project Leitmotiv (1992 - 2002). This music is full of sadness and pain but not in a slash-your-wrists-way. It is always like he performs it right in your living room. He has made seveb albums including a compilation and a split album with the excellent French industrial-ambient project Nouvelles Lectures Cosmopolites After his Leitmotiv period, Truong decided to continue his musical journey under his own name. His music style has changed to a more song driven. Now I meet his music again, but this time it is like a close friend or a brother who understands what I’m thinking is able to comfort me.
After a lot of e-mails with Frédéric he really bacame that friend. His first album Piano Solo is an intimate affair, with only piano and voice. A lot of his texts are very poetic and often based on the poetry of Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine and Prevert. The musical influences range from Serge Gainsbourg, Barbara, Jacques Brel and Dominique A to Tuxedomoon, Erik Satie, Chopin and Wim Mertens. He works with many guest musicians, like Laurent Esmez, but his muse has always been his singing daughter Sophie. His music's developed strongly throughout the years from intimate piano driven singer-songwriter music, to a rich and above all melancholic sound, which also includes French chansons, pop music, new wave, postrock, noise and neoclassical music. This is pretty much what you can find on his sixth and best album till now Après L’été. It feels like a soundtrack to my own thoughts. The music is so fragile and true but also so incredibly beautiful. This is one of my favorite albums of 2006. Hope you continue doing this for many more years, my friend!

Below you can find some mp3’s which give a good impression of his work, enjoy!
Frederic Truong - Renaissance (from Renaissance)
Frederic Truong - Des Chevaux Sauvages (from Après L'Été)
Frederic Truong - Un Train vers Avignon (From Après L'Été)
Frederic Truong - Radioactivity (Kraftwerk-cover, from Poèsie & Chansons)