Violette
Is Falling Strong
Violette
Is Falling Strong
As
we talk to French singer, songwriter and musician Violette we will unabashedly
admit that Riveting Riffs Magazine is a big fan of her music and of the person
as well. In the late fall of 2014 Violette released her album
Falling Strong, which takes its name
from the song of the same name and that appears as the second track on the
record. While we have watched the
Berklee College of Music graduate evolve as an artist
Falling Strong represents Violette’s
most diversified and accomplished album to date. She recorded songs in French
and English, in addition to her first duet, one with Louis Cato (Mariah
Carey, John Legend and Marcus Miller).
About “Falling Strong,” the song, Violette says, “I
called Louis and I said I wanted to write, so we went into the studio together
and he said what do you feel like writing? I was listening to Motown all of the
time and it is very much going through my veins right now. I said let’s take
this thought there and see what happens. We laid down drums, bass and the
guitars and I was singing all over, so we could see what we started to like.
I went home with that track and I figure it has that Marvin Gaye vibe
also. Nobody knows it yet, but Louis has an incredible voice, besides all of the
other skills, so I thought he would be the one for the duet.”
Violette elaborates about Cato’s musical abilities, also
noting that he co-wrote another one of the album’s songs with her, “Annabelle.”
“He is a wonderful musician. He is one of these aliens
who can play an instrument (drums, bass, guitars) at a level that nobody would
expect. He is an outrageously talented
fellow.”
“Falling Strong,” which has an accompanying
music video is a fun, upbeat and romantic song that
celebrates being in love. Violette delivers a sincere energy and joy to the
song, mixed in with that sweet girl next door persona, while Cato was an
excellent choice as the male part of this duet and brings splendid vocals and an
R&B vibe.
The placement of the song “Falling Strong,” on the album
immediately following the song “All My Life,” was a wise choice. “All My Life,”
is a beautiful, romantic love letter, as it describes that magical moment when
you realize you just met “the one,” with whom you believe you will be spending
the rest of your life. The music video for
“All My Life,” is cute and it offers two different
interpretations of how they met, the courtship and marriage. We get his
perspective and we get hers and both are positive and fun.
“My husband Brad Hasse directed the “All My Life,” and
parts of it are autobiographical and parts of it are fictional. We worked around
the concept for quite a while with the help of our friend Parin Sarasin, who
built the puppets (used to depict
Violette and Brad in the video) from scratch and then built all of the
props. We filmed at home, so it is a very homemade tale!” she says.
In an interview with
adcyoungguns.org Brad Hasse said, “When purchasing some of
the props for the video, the owner of the liquor store I went to wasn’t too sure
of me when I said, “Excuse me sir, I’d like a bottle of your
finest, but absolutely smallest, bottle of champagne please!” We weren’t as
lucky at the bakery or pizza parlor, so the props for those scenes were made
from scratch.”
Violette refers to
Falling Strong as her most personal
album, “because I had the great pleasure to work with my friend Brian Bacchus as
a producer on this album. His approach to producing is extremely free and it is
not like he told me that I should write this and that.
I wrote what was in my heart and ears. I
would say that is the best picture of that period of my life, as far as music
based and what was happening in my life.”
What was going on in Violette’s life when this album
first started to take shape almost three years ago?
“I was building my family with a baby and marriage, so
it is a good way to feed your music and taking time to have new things to say,”
she says.
Violette’s vocals are tender on “Annabelle,” one of the
songs that she recorded in French and the song bears the name of her daughter.
“I wrote it the same day that I wrote “Falling Strong,”
with Louis. We finished the track “Falling Strong,” and I was hey Luis we have
twenty minutes and I started writing this song and I said let’s record a track
to it and see how it sounds. I had the chorus and I wrote the verse with Louis.
I usually start with melodies, so I came back home and I started going through a
number of ideas and I trashed them and I got upset. Finally, it shaped up when
it had an affectionate (feel), but it is a strong transition when you are
becoming a mother. There is some fear and some joy and some soul mixed together
and that song was about these doubts and these fears all wrapped up in love and
everything,” she says.
Violette who spent the first nine years of her life
growing up on an island in the southwest of France, before her family moved to
Paris when she was ten years old, still performs in France whenever she gets the
opportunity.
“It is always a great time when I go back, because I
grew up there. The audience is always
friends and family and people who have been following the music for a long time,
so it’s a really fun time.
It is a funny thing, I always say I only started singing
in French when I moved to the States. It is very funny.
I started my career mostly in Jazz, in Gospel and Soul music and when I
started arranging standards it was in English. When I moved to Boston, so many
people said to me, oh you are French can you sing some Édith Piaf and Jacques
Brel songs? At some point I thought I really need to get a repertoire this is
embarrassing. I thought of learning
a lot of French songs and performing them. This also opened up my French
writing. They say sometimes you have to go abroad to find yourself.
It was ironic that I had to move to the
United States to release that singing and writing in French.
People in the States love French music.
They absolutely love it. 
I have performed in Montreal (Canada) many times and I
would say it’s probably one of my favorite places to perform. The culture there
is an integrated part of anybody’s life.
You see it in a number of festivals. The first time I played there I
didn’t know how many people there would be and it was such a pleasant surprise,
the people were so warm and were so enthusiastic about music in general and the
arts. I think if New York didn’t
appeal to me, it (Montreal) would definitely be a place to move to,” she says.
“Envol,” another one of the songs recorded in French, was
written with Violette’s mother Anne de Bartillat, one of two songs that they
wrote together for this album, the other one being “Moi Pour Moi.”
“Usually, when I perform “Envol,” I check out whether or
not people in the audience speak French.
The subject of the song is pretty heavy. It is a song about parents
losing their child. During the two years of writing and producing the album I
became a mother. I really feel nowadays
that I didn’t know the meaning of fear until I became a parent and mother.
The idea of losing your child is a very difficult thing to accept.
This song talks about friends of our
family who went through this and the lyrics are really intense. The lyrics were
written by my mom, so it was a good family collaboration around a topic that
meant a lot to both of us,” says Violette.
For the beautiful
“Perfect Illusions,” Violette made good use of strings
arranged by Duncan Winkel.
“I wanted to write a song about how our mind can be our
best ally and also how it can be our enemy. Sometimes when your will is very,
very strong, it is not directed into a positive goal or a very meaningful one
and if it is a very bad thing how it can destroy us. To me that can occur in
many different circumstances in the lives of people. Some people set goals for
themselves that endanger their own lives and that don’t make them happy. That is
what I wanted to write in that song. I was not trying to be preachy or anything,
but to have a more compassionate take on it. It is really difficult to help
someone who has mental obsessions. It is a blend of trying to communicate with
someone in an affectionate way, but also to be firm. With “Perfect Illusions,” I
was trying to find a strong rooted groove, but also in a very affectionate way.
The strings were a good way for that, because it always grounds the music. It
also has that romantic aspect of the strings that can convey the very strong and
firm I want to help you and you need to get out of this, but also I am here,
because I love you. It’s not simply preaching or a speech. The strings were
arranged by Duncan Winkel who was one of the performers in the Boston Boys, a
band that was right out of Berklee College of Music where I studied. When I
heard his work with the Boston Boys I liked it and that is why I asked him to
arrange strings for “Perfect Illusions,” she says.
The Jazzy
“Musiques D’Amérique," is a good song that makes great use
of a horn section consisting of Curtis Taylor (trumpet), Stantawn Kendrick (alto
sax), Anthony Ware (tenor sax) and trombonist Robert Edwards. The horn
arrangements are by Kamau Kenyatta.
About “Musiques D’Amérique,” Violette says, “The song is
the one that closes the album. I would say it is a recapitulation of the album
and “Musiques D’Amérique,” means American music or music that is from America.
It is about how I enjoy all styles of music and how America gathers all styles
of music. I have found in the States that it is open to blending and mixing
different genres of music, which I find in France, is a little more difficult
and it is a little more closed up, as far as mixing Jazz, R&B, Soul music and
Gospel. I think they are very separate (in France). I also wanted to bridge the
French influence in my songs, so I figured if I was going to bridge the American
and French music, New Orleans would be a good place to do that, because it is
the cradle of so many cultures. Kamau Kenyatta is a wonderful horns arranger and
he worked on the entire album. The song was a tribute to all the styles of
American music.”
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