Benjamin Biolay - Rose Kennedy

Band/artist - Benjamin Biolay
Genre(s) - Chansonnier, French pop
Origin - France
Album - Rose Kennedy
Year of release - 2002

I'm not too familiar with the Chansons Françaises-scene and this is one out of two very fine albums in the genre that I know. Dealing with the tragic life of the Kennedy family's matriarch, it's an elegant and melancholic piece of work, rather sparse at times and quite fragile-sounding, but very alluring. Biolay's voice is mostly a husky whisper adding an even more poetic edge to an already poetic language. If you're just going to listen to two songs, let is be Les Cerfs-Volants ("the kites") with its sweeping violins and Rose Kennedy with its haunting vocal samples.

1. Novembre toute l'annee (November all year long)
   
2. Les roses et les promesses (The roses and the promises)
   
3. Les cerfs-volants (The kites)
   
4. La mélodie de bonheur (The melody of joy)
   
5. L'observatoire (The observatory)
   
6. La monotonie (The monotony)
   
7. Trombones avant la grande parade (Horns before the big parade)
   
8. Los Angeles
9. La palmeraie (The palm grove)
   
10. Rose Kennedy
    
11. Sous le soleil du mois d'aout (Beneath the mid-august sun)
    
12. Les joggers sur la plage (The joggers on the beach)
    
13. Un été sur la côte (A summer at the coast)
    

...and we are all mortal.