Danielle French

Country of origin:

Canada

Type of music generally:

First albums pop, later work more evocative/eclectic and edgier alternative pop

Status:

Most recent release, Danielle French Presents: Miss Scarlett & the Madmen—Dark Love Songs (2016)

See also:

Danielle French's site

Comparisons:

Tara MacLean, Sarah McLachlan, other soft pop/rock singers for her earlier work

Covers/own material:

Own, co-written, occasional covers

General comments:

Sweet, carefully crafted pop sound, slightly raspy-sweet voice. Her early albums feel too mainstream pop for my tastes, but fans of Tara MacLean and Sarah McLachlan's recent work are sure to love them. I find shadows a far more compelling album. (Neile)

Recommended first album:

me, myself & i or Piece for pop fans; shadows for those looking for something a little edgier

Recordings:

• me, myself & i (1995)
• Piece (2003)
• shadows (2006)
• Drive (2012)
• Danielle French Presents: Miss Scarlett & the Madmen—Dark Love Songs (2016)

me, myself & i

Release info:

1995—Scarlet Raven Productions—sr101-2

Availability:

Danielle French's site

Ecto priority:

Recommended for pop fans

Group members:

Danielle French—vocals, acoustic guitars

Guest artists:

Matthew Good—guitars
Eran Vooys—drums
Peggy Lee—cello
John (Juan) Jacyna—piano, accordion
Colin Nairne—electric guitars
Jack Guppy—drums
Dave Reimer—bass
Finn Manniche—cello
Moritz Behm—violin
Stephen Mitchell—guitars
Kim Deschamps—steel guitars
Adrian Duncan—classical guitar, recorders
Russell Shumsky—percussion, digeridoo
Gerry Gagnon—high-strung guitar, dulcimer
Martin Walston—bass
David McNaulty—drums
David Lum—guitars
David Kershaw—piano, leslie
Kim Linekan—violin
Cameron Wilson—violin

Produced by:

Danielle French, Matthew Good, Colin Nairne, Geoffrey Kelly (Spirit of the West), Bart Gurr, Stephen Nikleva, Suzanne Little

Comments:

if a song has what are annoying lyrics to me, no amount of musical brilliance can generally make up for it. A good example is yet another Vancouver artist: Danielle French, who just put out a very over-produced, "nice"-sounding debut album. Melodies and arrangements are perfect, and it's easy to get carried away by that. Quite Sarahesque, and in fact Dave Kershaw plays on a song.... The only song I quite like is "Fields of Fire", which may be mainly due to the fact that my friend Mo does a fine job of accompanying her on violin. Other than that I just can't get over my aversion to lyrics like "I am only passing time until the time you are mine." But for all of you who are music people, I highly recommend this album because musically it's brilliant. (abehrend@direct.ca)

It's not all that interesting to me musically because my tastes aren't quite so mainstream pop as this sounds. There are two songs I think she does very well, both of which are slow. I can't remember the same of the first one, but the second one is the title song, "Me Myself and I". It's a strange and haunting song—mostly because of the music rather than the lyrics—and almost makes the album worth the price of admission to me. The "hit" track (I say this because there are two versions of it on the album and it's a very pretty love song), "Worthy", is a pleasant pop song that would have gotten decent airplay if the album had any promotion.
     In any case I highly recommend this to the pop fans among us. I think you'll find it quite lovely. (Neile)

Piece

Release info:

2003—Scarlet Raven—sr 2639-2

Availability:

Danielle French's site

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended

Group members:

Danielle French—vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, warped guitar (8)

Guest artists:

Chris Brett—electric guitars (1, 2), keyboard patch (2, 6, 10)
Spider Sinnaeve—bass (1, 3, 7, 10)
Burton Cummings—piano (1, 3), vocals (5)
Chris Sutherland—drums (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10), percussion (1, 5, 6, 7, 9), triangles (8)
Sarka Kocika—drums (1, 7), percussion (3, 7, 10)
Jon Sorensen—electric guitars (2, 7, 9), piano (8)
Will Martina—cello (2, 6, 8, 9)
Howard Redekopp—bass (2), acoustic guitar (3)
Jonathon Lewis—viola (3, 4)
Don Kerr—drums (3, 4, 5, 6), percussion (6)
Perrin DePape—bass (4)
Blair DePape—bass (4, 6)
Christine Fellows—accordion (5)
Paul MacLeod—vocals (6, 7)
Luke Doucet—electric guitars (6, 10)
Meghana Bhat—citar (7)
Shawn Everett—warped guitar (8)
Rod Thomas Squance—bells (8)

Produced by:

Danielle French

Comments:

I don't know what Danielle French's debut was like, but Piece seems very accomplished and well-played slightly melancholy pop. "Howard's song" is just beautiful, a violin adding to the mood. "To the death", a duet with Burton Cummings, is slow and waltz-like. She covers "Running up that hill" and makes it work. Piece is an intriguing and sometimes odd pop record. (stjarnell@yahoo.com)

shadows

Release info:

2006—Scarlet Raven—srp-1111

Availability:

Danielle French's site

Ecto priority:

Highly recommended

Group members:

Danielle French—vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, hand claps, stomps

Guest artists:

Martin Tielli—electric guitars, sound sculptures, harmony vocals
Diane Kooch—electric bass, stand-up bass
Jonathon Lewis—viola, mandolin, accordion, synth, piano, accordion, hand claps, stomps, violin
Peter Moller—drums, tom, percussion
Brent Van Dusen—percussion
Chipp Robb—bass, hand claps, stomps
Diego Medina—synths
Christina Peters—backing vocals
Jevon Hills—tuba

Produced by:

Danielle French and Jonathon Lewis

Comments:

Wow. Just wow. Here Danielle French breaks out all the stops and delves into the shadows and comes up with a unique and still beautiful album. Full of intriguing songs from the very first, the captivating "Alive". "Sincere" is cabaret-ish. "Descending" is a masterpiece of a song that captures both the pop side and this shadowy edge in one track. "Avalon" is a delightful clockwork song, while "Keep" is slithery. "Time To Kill" is cabaret-ish again, as is the darker "Cinnamon Man". "Sleepy Truck" moves back and forth from a cabaretish sound to a darker, more chaotic chorus. "Diplomatic" is a pop-sounding song with cranky, sardonic lyrics at odds with the sound. The last two tracks, "Drowning" and "The Weight of it All" are urgent and lovely. What a wonderful collection! Fascinating musically and lyrically interesting. Highly recommended. (Neile)

Thanks to stjarnell@yahoo.com for work on this entry.

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