Lippi Bruni

Fra Lippo Lippi created the blueprint for the band they'd eventually become on Small Mercies. On this album, the Norwegian group's roots in gothic rock have yet to be severed, especially with the funereal percussion, grim basslines, and sinister vocals on "Barrier." Nevertheless, the melodic, atmospheric keyboards that linger throughout the record would later shape Fra Lippo Lippi's trademark piano-based new wave pop. In fact, the second track on the album, "A Small Mercy," is the genesis of one of Fra Lippo Lippi's future hits, "Everytime I See You." The songs on Small Mercies are moody and depressing, but they're appropriate for rainy days. Like Joy Division, Fra Lippo Lippi were able to crawl into life's bleakest recesses and exit with music that emitted an ominous beauty…

Her first original album in seven years, the eponymous record is a reflection of Carla Bruni, a wholehearted embracing of her true self.Guitar, piano, a bit of foot-tapping and fragments of melody are the foundation of all the tracks, recorded with Albin de la Simone, who produced the entire album. The renowned multi-instrumentalist was determined to give her new songs the most delicate treatment. The music of the album bears witness to a unique temperament and a strong sense of the present moment. Always sensitive, with a desire for a calm simplicity, there is a disarming allure about Bruni’s songs: the intimacy, the simplicity, in a spirit of freedom, friendship and love.

Her first original album in seven years, the eponymous record is a reflection of Carla Bruni, a wholehearted embracing of her true self.Guitar, piano, a bit of foot-tapping and fragments of melody are the foundation of all the tracks, recorded with Albin de la Simone, who produced the entire album. The renowned multi-instrumentalist was determined to give her new songs the most delicate treatment. The music of the album bears witness to a unique temperament and a strong sense of the present moment. Always sensitive, with a desire for a calm simplicity, there is a disarming allure about Bruni’s songs: the intimacy, the simplicity, in a spirit of freedom, friendship and love.

After the runaway success of her charming, folksy first album Quelqu'un M'a Dit, Carla Bruni's sophomore effort takes a more difficult route and sees her setting canonical works by such poets as Yeats and Emily Dickinson to music, often calamitously. W.H. Auden's "At Last the Secret Is Out" offers a case in point. Set to a brisk Jack Johnson-style swinging guitar, the poem becomes stripped of all its meaning: no one word is allowed to stand out, as each line is madly shoehorned into a sensible rhythm, and the wistful, yearning tone of the poem gets lost in the breezy melody of the song. Therein lies the problem. Bruni's blues guitar template is too rigid to allow these words to breathe.