Bless

"Her "alarmingly sweet" stage name speaks volumes in itself. Bless, like "blessée" or "blessure" (injured, injury) in French. Bless like "blessed" in English. An echo of her real name, Bénédicte. "It means "blessed by God". It's the type of name people used to give to orphans", she says, frail, yet implacable. It doesn't take much to guess that Bless, aged 32, is no fan of families." Aren't you intrigued yet? These are the first sentences from the Bless bio, and yes, it gets better. Bless wrote poetry, took courses at the Lee Strassberg Instite and she sculpts. And now, she makes music as well. And what great songs! The bio calls Bless a "lo-fi Françoise Hardy", which is a good description. She has that hypnotic-lullaby quality Hardy's voice can have (in L'Amitié, for instance). Her first album, released in June 2006, sounds a little like Charlotte Gainsbourg's, with Damon Albarn on the productionchair. And with French songs - alas the lyrics in English aren't as good (and well sung) as on Charlotte's 5.55. See videos on her MySpace-site.

Bless - Ce plaisir ne m'est pas donnné
Bless - Un ange à ma table