Alone on stage with her voluminous semi-hollow Gretsch guitar – an instrument that is associated more with rockabilly than with folk – or her portable keyboard, she is somewhat out of place, at the beginning of June, on the B stage of the Art Rock festival in Saint- Brieuc. Programmed between an American gothic garage duo (Mattiel) and people from Rennes working in Aztec psychedelia (Guadal Tejaz), November Ultra offers a break from the race for decibels. As we are in Brittany, the singer donned a pale mauve raincoat, surprisingly matching a debauchery of white tulle and a pink hat with red polka dots. This playful fantasy and its roundness evoke the divine Cass Elliot from Mamas & the Papas. The enveloping bass of her voice is more reminiscent of the British diva Adele, when she does not give in to the forced passage.
Invited by the government to stay at home due to the pandemic, the country may have preferred cotton wool as a musical refuge and may have become accustomed to it. Which would explain the good reception reserved for the album Bedroom Walls, collection of ten lullabies published by November Ultra, in April, conceived in the comfort of his room as the title indicates. The promise Barbara once made to be “sweet and tender” has been conveyed, since 2020, by the single Soft & Tender, built on a minimalist arpeggio and angelic harmonies. It is held from an ethereal piano and mellotron effects (the splendid Over & Over & Over) and a stripped-down electro touch familiar to Frank Ocean fans. November Ultra chose the first name (“Nova” for those close to him) with the month of his birth and this false surname in reference to Nostalgia, Ultra (2011), first mixtape of the American musician, ace of experimental R’n’B – to which she pays a second strong tribute with the title Nostalgia/Ultra. Two others are called The carousel et Honeybut English prevails, sometimes mixed with Spanish.
Rocio Durcal and Jeff Buckley
“I sang a lot in English so that my mother would not understand, because I was talking about my feelings as a teenager and, when I decided to sing in another language, it was hersconfides the 33-year-old revelation in his dressing room at the festival. French ? I could today, but I don’t know if I would be able to write in that language, it’s too direct, too direct. » The one who shares her joys and sorrows, even her depressive moods (Monomania), is actually said “very shy, basic” : “As a child, I was found doing puzzles. Conversely, my grandfather and my mother are very expansive people. They both sing, but they wouldn’t allow themselves to do that professionally. »
You have 55.14% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.