Frànçois Marry’s sixth album as Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains evokes warm days spent lounging in fields of clover reflecting on friendship, places visited and journeys which could be undertaken. Banane Bleue’s 10 tracks are unhurried and delivered as if Marry had just woken up. Relatively, the chugging “Holly Go Lightly” is uptempo – but it’s still reserved.
Musically, Banane Bleue is more Eighties sounding than previous Frànçois & The Atlas Mountains albums and comes across as a family friend of Belgium’s Antena, the early Elli Medeiros and él Records mainstay Louis Philippe. Marry’s previous indie-folk leanings are largely in the background and there are hints of the jazz-pop side of Milton Nascimento. Produced by Finland’s Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Banane Bleue is rooted in internationalism: the France-born Marry has lived in the UK and toured with Glasgow’s Camera Obsurca. The album’s title comes from the concept of the curvilinear, cross-European linkage of cities including Liverpool, Hamburg and Milan. Completed in Athens, Berlin and Paris, Banane Bleue opens with the multi-lingual “The Foreigner”, an aural swoon inspired by train journeys through different countries.
However, the resultant confection is unmistakeably French. Although odd tracks are sung in English the cadence of Marry's voice, its intimate presence and the see-saw lilt of the melodies is intrinsically Gallic. If Benjamin Biolay had a UK indie-pop bent and a liking for Belle and Sebastian, he could have come up with this. Dive in, and be cossetted by this thoughtful album.
