Pirate

One doesn't need to speak French to understand what Cœur de pirate is saying on her new album, En cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé. The emotion in her voice and delicately beautiful melodies say it all. For the sake of it, though, the title translates to: "During storms, this garden will be closed" — a double meaning that serves as both caution and preservation, and represents the turbulent narrative taking place on the record.

Cœur de Pirate is the solo project of award-winning singer-songwriter and pianist Béatrice Martin. Since the age of 3, Martin has been playing the piano and expressing herself through songs and music. After spending several years singing and playing keyboards in Montreal indie bands, Martin decided to go solo and released her eponymously titled debut album in September 2008, to immediate national and international acclaim. Her popularity on YouTube and MySpace helped her garner millions of new fans. Cœur de Pirate has now sold more than one million albums worldwide and counting.

On "Brass in Pocket," one of the pretenders earliest singles-and their first to chart in the U.S., scoring #14 in Billboard-Chrissie Hynde sings, "I'm special, so special, I gotta have some of your attention, give it to me." Formed in London in '78 with Hynde, James Honeyman Scott, Martin Chambers, and Pete Farndon, the band received massive attention for that hit and other stellar songs from their 1980 self-titled debut album.