13 Dec 10 Mylène Farmer: Bleu Noir, what’s wrong?

It has been 2 years since the last Mylène Farmer album has been released. When ‘Point de Suture’ came out I’d already pre-ordered the album via Amazon.fr making sure I could listen to it as soon as possible. Perhaps you do remember my visit in Brussels as posted on september 21st 2009 HERE. There’s also a small video on Youtube (HERE) which has been viewed over 4,200 times already which is super. On the album ‘Point de Suture’ one can find a mixture of uptempo and ballad tracks, fantastic songs including those typical ‘Mylène’ songs that are just magic, cinematic music composed by Mylène Farmer and Laurent Boutonnat, who also directed tons of her groundbreaking videos. For me, all this is a big source of energy and a source of inspiration for what I do in audioviduals. Or should I say: it used to be…?

December 6th 2010: the release of a new Mylène Farmer album called ‘Bleu Noir’. This time I had pre-ordered the album on a Dutch site and got in the album by december 9th. Unpacked it and started playing with my best headphones on….

Here’s a summary of my ‘Bleu Noir’ experience, a 12 track album that is no longer under the eye of producer and composer Laurent Boutonnat. This time La Farmer hired RedOne for the production (known for his work with Lady Gaga) and Jimmy Joker. The music on the album is taken care of by ‘Moby’ (really? really.) and a couple of tracks were done by Darius Keeler which is a British composer of a the UK based rock band ‘Archive’. The result? “Muziek uit een koekblik” which is dutch for “music from a cookie jar”… read more if you’re up to this.

“On the BN album (Bleu Noir) La Farmer is going where I don’t want to go anymore… 2 out of 5 stars, perhaps an extra star over time”

Now what got into Mylène anyway? Music by Moby. Hmm. Before you know it you will be listening to boring loops and irritating piano patterns as I’ve said goodbye to the Moby style many years ago. But first… there’s the opener of the album called ‘Oui Mais Non’ which is a typical Lady Gaga song produced my RedOne. Boom! Not quite original but it draws the attention by it’s repetitive lyrics and booming beats. Nice one mr RedOne. Video looks ok but very plastic. Mylène looks kinda imported in a land where she doesn’t  exactly belong but that’s not important for the rest of this review.

I’m gonna keep it simple and short about BN (at least I will try) cause the album is very much non-inspiring at all. It’s far from those typical Mylène vibes and tracks that used to take me away from earth deep into her mysterious universe. Instead I found myself listening to music from the 90’s and even worse: not liking it. There’s simple and cheap beats, old fashioned melodies and silly loops, vocal editing like we used to hear 15 years ago, the Moby style is getting on my nerves as nothing really cool happens, the sound doesn’t match expectations one is allowed to have in 2010… Luckily there are some positive moments as well, let’s mention those as well cause it saves my 20 euros a little bit… ‘Moi Je Veux’ sounds lovely in my car, singing along before you know, let’s be honest: Mylène’s voice is absolutely terrific and the producers have even lifted her natural qualities to extreme good sounding levels. Really? Yep. Even the song “N’aie Plus D’Amertume” will grab you and move you intensely…At last! Let me put this into perspective: I’m not worried about her voice, I’m worried about the producers and instrumental settings. This is all very ‘bleu’ and very ‘noir’. I doubt this has been the intention for this production but hey… if this was the idea in the first place, well they succeeded!

Couple of songs in particular under review:

‘Bleu Noir’ - the title song turns out to be a dull and bad orchestred song with a Karaoke feel to it. No quality mix within 40 miles distance. Do you see it?

‘N’aie Plus d’Amertume’ - there’s light… probably the best song on the album. Love the melancholic twist, is she back…? Mylène’s voice grabs you and moves you, except for the ‘Moby-style’  piano chords. But let’s try and stop thinking too much.

‘Toi l’Amour’ - listen to the sound at the beginning of this song and you’ll know what I mean with music I’ve left behind years ago … Moby picks it up again. Bad boy!

‘Lonely Lisa’ - …is that distortion I hear during the chorus? Or is it the verse? Lost now… many ideas all stuffed into one track. It’s a catchy one you might like and it has definately hit potential. Mylène’s voice saves the song… she’s got that unique quality! Mr. RedOne puts a stamp on the track with steady beats.

‘Light me Up’ - (the English is kind of emberrassing sometimes but it will grown on you) Ongoing loops and patterns almost injured my vains, there’s no real ‘lighting up’ possible if you ask me, the producer should be a bit ashamed, though the melody sticks in my head so there’s something positive, good, I might even like the song!

‘Leila’ - makes me mad. Crazy chords and cheap string sounds with no dimension nor dynamics. Nice try with the multi-vocals calling ‘Leila’ but if i were Leila I’d walk away. The base line can’t hold the song. The chords sound simple and loop for ages… It’s as dry as over cooked turkey. But if that’s the idea behind the song, it succeeded.

‘Diabolique Mon Ange’ - intense vocals to begin with so one has hope! However, incoming beats and loops in a totally out-of-balance mix including strings as bad as snow on a hot summer ground, breaks are terrible, ‘Tic Tac’… is it over yet?

‘Inseperables’ - Mylène and I we used to be. This feels indeed like hell as she sings in this final track. My…you could have done so much better! For an even worse effect there’s the English version right after this song so I had to listen twice… I stopped the cd player before ending the song.

Mylène, Mylène, … what are you doing? Where’s the real quality music? Where’s the real Farmer? Where’s the musical drug and adventure? Don’t let yourself in with guys like Moby and Darius? You are not Lady Gaga so drop RedOne as well! Take it easy, remember who you are and have a glass of the best Chateauneuf-du-Pape with Laurent and start writing your next album with him please, straight from your heart, you can do it! Hey, there’s some very cool moments on this album but in general I simply can’t give it more than 2 out of 5 stars. After hearing tracks more and more I’m sure it will grown on you, like it’s doing with me as we speak, I even edited this review after first posting earlier this morning: I’ve had very cool moments, kind of funny after a fourth hearing session, played it loud in my car, no matter the production team, they can’t ignore her magic voice!!!

Why this review here at Spacemusic.nl ? Because I care. Because I am u huge fan of Mylène and I travel the world to see her concerts. I have all her albums, I can dream her music but now… I wake up from a bad dream: is this really her new album?

Well, it will save me from a couple of hundred euros for a concert/hotel arrangement in 2011 that’s for sure. I’d better spend it on good wines and great movies.

- a fan for over 22 years

Tags: 2010, Bleu Noir, Darius Keeler, Moby, Mylène Farmer, RedOne, review