Toystore [Bonus Track]

Personnel: Benjamin Biolay (alto, guitar, ukulele, harmonica, melodica, cornet, piano, guiro, maracas, metallophone, shaker, tambourine, tom tom, triangle, carillon).
Audio Mixer: Bénédicte Schmitt.
Recording information: Studio acousti; Studio de La Seine; Studio Labomatic.
Coralie Clément's third album, 2009's TOYSTORE, takes the singer's winsomeness and delicacy to a whole new level. As the title implies, this album is brimming with cutie-pie instrumentation (toy Farfisas, glockenspiels, and ukuleles, just to name a few); it's the kind of thing that brings to mind Cake on Cake, Yann Tiersen (particularly his work for the movie AMELIE), and Detektivbyran. Benjamin Biolay's arrangements, intricate as clockwork, mingle pleasantly with Clément's romantic, wistful vocals. On the surface the instrumentation might seem simple and childlike, but Biolay manages to work a good helping of darkness, even malevolence, into the twinkling sounds of these diminutive instruments, and it results in some puckish, charming-as-heck music. There are a few moments when this sugariness becomes tad cloying- one track in particular, "Je Ne Sens Plus Ton Amour," a cabaret-style piano-driven duet featuring Etienne Daho, is a bit too soggy-sweet. Still, it's an interesting and well-made detour from the chic, windswept, and wistful fare found on Clement's previous two albums.