Despite sometimes being a bit clunky to get into a song, when someone English sings a song in French it can give a tune a little "Je ne sais quoi". I've always favoured Teardrop Explodes "Traison ( C'est Juste Une Histoire )" to the native version and David Bowie's "Heroes" is equally charming in it's own way when sung in a Gallic voice.
All of which brings us to Hannah White who looks all set to sip a glass of merlot and maybe puff on a Gauloise as she stares out from the cover of her latest single "Sans Desepoir" or "Without Despair" if you'd prefer the translation. To all intents and purposes the picture could as easily be from the 60's as last week, Hannah has a certain elegance as she stares off into the distance, which is quite apt as the music itself also has something of a bygone age about it.
The guitars have a distinct lack of oomph, the organ sounds like it could have come from an old Animals track, leaving the bass more prominent than we are normally used to these days - it's a perfect 60's soundtrack! Hannah sings in French with a confidence and an assurance that helps lighten the load for the UK listener on what would otherwise be a quite heavy set of lyrics.
"La même histoire
Toi tu t'en vas
Je ne sais pas pourquoi, pourquoi" even in French there is a palpable pain attached to the "Pourquoi"'s
or
"It's the same old story
You're leaving
And I don't know why, oh why"
The uptempo nature of the son, lifted by that jazzy organ sound would probably not work as well sung in English
"Sauf une douleur je connais si bien" somehow seems less heartbreaking than "I am begging you, this time don't go"
It all leads to another stunning sad set of lines
"La vie, l'amour
J'en souffre toujours
Montre moi le couloir d'une vie sans désespoir" which has an intense lyrical musicality to it - the translation you cannot help but feel would have to be a torch ballad
"I always suffer from life and love
Show me the way to a life without despair"
It is certainly something different from Hannah, although if you listen to her catalogue carefully it is littered with 60's musical references. The French element allows her to try something different and naturally she does it with a certain nonchalance. There is nothing to stop her putting the English lyrics to a completely different tune at some later date - either way the results are magnifique!