Incredibly poignant and nuanced, ‘Le bruit des villes’ is the wonderful and heartwarming latest effort from French songstress Sophie Cantier. Fully embracing the melancholia and nostalgia so common to the most celebrated chansons, Cantier celebrates the great tradition of French storytellers, exploring painful fragments from recent memories.
Built over cathartic piano tones and vibrant cellos, the record benefits from Cantier’s light and intelligible vocals, here delivered with a strong spoken-word flair. Her tone is almost casual, guiding the listeners with elegance and charisma, never overpowering the piece. Such musical and songwriting wisdom showcases the great talent Sophie has to offer, a talent that ‘Le bruit des villes’ makes very obvious.
Echoing the silence around our cities back when pandemic lockdowns were in place, the song seeks to celebrate the brief and strange moments of quietness in all urban jungles around the world. As she explains: “This song evokes the feeling of strangeness we all felt when the traffic and noise of the world stopped in 2020…”
Recommended! Discover ‘Le bruit des villes’ on Spotify:
