Canadian and Quebecoise artist Isabelle Boulay has released a new Christmas album entitled En Attendant Noël (While Waiting For Christmas). There are French versions of the holiday classics, as well as English songs like White Christmas.
The music is French Pop (Musique Francophone) with a holiday twist -it’s romantic, nostalgic, cozy and family-oriented. The instruments heard in the album are the piano, the guitar, and the violin. The song On Attendait Noël (We were waiting for Christmas) tells the story of someone who remembers childhood memories of Christmas. The coziness in the music has me imagining a little intimate dinner with family and friends with this album playing in the background. Isabelle Boulay’s versions of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and White Christmas have a mix of Jazz and Classic sounds with a slow rhythm -it has a romantic quality to it. The compositions have music that has an old-fashioned charm but still honours the new.
Isabelle Boulay’s voice has a vibrant and silvery alto, as well as soft and smooth. She has a magnificent duet with Rufus Wainright in the song I’ll Be Home For Christmas. She sings from the heart and gives the tracks on this album life. Isabelle Boulay honours the classics of English, French (France) and Quebec sounds. Blue Christmas is an example of a song with which she had her fantastic take on a legendary hit by Elvis Pressley with the music of the Blues. She honoured French music with On Attendait Noël, an original tune by French artist Julien Clerc. Isabelle Boulay also sings a lovely homage to Quebec music with the hit Le Labrador, a song by Claude Dubois, as part of a little medley with L’Enfant Au Tambour (The French version of the Drummer Boy). She sang with joy and passion in this album – what an impressive performance of Christmas classics!
The album En Attendant Noël is now available.
