Brigitte Fontaine

Brigitte Fontaine, one of France's great living intelectuals and musicians, recieves little respect from international audiences outside her native shores. Her 16th and most recent album, Libido, has recently been released by Polydor and continues her late renaisance during which she has produced perhaps her best songs. This album features Mathieu Chedid and arrangements from Jean Claude Vannier, who worked with her on her first album in 1966.

Initially she begun as a chanteuse in the early 60's, at about the same time as Francoise Hardy, presenting melodic and orchestrated songs. On subsequent records she got jazzier, and then into avant-gardism and art song. Her albums were commendably wide-ranging, and undeniably erratic. She could employ African tribal rhythms, discordant progressive jazz, pretty folky melodies, throat-stretching a cappella vocals, spoken poetry, and pious classical arrangements, sometimes with an ideosyncratic recklessness. On some albums she collaborated with Areski, whose rough vocals contrasted incongruously with Fontaine's sweet and mature tone. Fontaine returned to recording in the 1990s and has since worked with musicians such as Stereolab and Sonic Youth.