How does a young French-Canadian singer/songwriter come up with the stage name Coeur de Pirate (translates to A Pirate’s Heart)? Take a douchy ex-boyfriend with a solo project named “Songs for Sailors”, Myspace and a bunch of songs written to blast him and you got the perfect moniker. 3 albums, 40 million YouTube views and 1.5 followers later, she’s made her point. Well known in Canada and France, her latest album “Roses” sees her ready to pillage and plunder the English speaking world. Roses shows R&B and pop influences and “I Don’t Want to Break Your Heart” features local rapper Allan Kingdom.
Tiny Deaths started the evening with a solo set by Claire de Lune. The band is about to release their new EP “Night Flowers” next week. The mixture of electronics with de Lune’s dark almost haunting vocals worked quite well. She closed her set with the words: “Hopefully I was somewhat entertaining.” More than somewhat!
Coeur de Pirate tours with a 4-piece band and her own lights (which was great news given the Cedar’s rather dim ones) and throughout her set images and textures were projected behind and on the musicians. It looked great to old Mark I Eyeball but had me struggling a bit do capture it. After the 2nd song, she polled the audience on their French and some did not speak it, she announced her jokes would be in English.
Béatrice Martin the women behind the nom de guerre transitioned as easily from French to English as she switched music styles. From modern alternative tunes, ballads, classic French Chansons to a hip hop collaboration with St. Paul’s Allan Kingdom who joined her on stage for “I don’t want to break your Heart”.
Her connection to the audience was not only built through her music but also by sharing stories about her songs. And the stories were as unique as this artist. St. Laurant was inspired by a bad date in Martin’s youth, when she passed out drunk in a snow band and had to be picked up by her dad – something every Minnesotan can relate to. Another song was dedicated to her daughter Romy, to be used in arguments once she will reach teenage years.
Overall, I found Coeur de Pirate a very impressive artists and truly enjoyed the show.
Set List: Oceans Brawl / Undone / Golden Baby / Pour un Infidele / C’etait Salement Romantique / Cast Away / Our Love / Drapeau Blanc / Interlude / Francis / Drake Cover / Place de la Republique / Tu oublieras mon Nom / I don’t want to break your Heart (with Allan Kingdom)/ St. Laurent / The way back Home / Ensemble / Adieu / Crier tout Bas / Encore: Comme des Enfants / Carry On
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