ARIANE MOFFATT plays the El Mocambo tonight (Thursday, March 22) for CMW. See listing. Rating: NNN
The title of Ariane Moffatt’s fourth album, Ma, refers to a Japanese concept involving a gap or hiatus in time or a substance – sort of a negative space or downtime. It’s also an inversion of the award-winning Montreal singer/songwriter’s initials.
More than half sung in English and the rest in French, Ma features lots of bass-heavy, synthy, sultry, electro-pop concerning matters of the heart, with the beats standing in for the human heartbeat and Moffatt’s sexy, breathy vocals on top.
The bilingual affair, self-produced by Moffatt with technical assistance from Pierre Girard, piques my interest most when Moffat sings low and sounds like she means business, as on Mon Corps, and on trippy retro experiment La Pluie Et Le Beau Temps. She sounds more at ease when singing in French.
Top track: La Pluie Et Le Beau Temps
