Who is Keren Ann? She is the most watched folk talent in the French music scene. She was born in Israel. She started playing Joni Mitchell's songs when she was playing guitar in elementary school. After her family moved to Paris at the age of 11, she was appreciated by Joni Mitchell and met the famous producer Benjamin. Biolay, whose classical music background brings richer orchestration layers to her work. In 2000, Keren Ann's debut album "LaBiographie De Luka Philipsen" incorporated Russian literature, Jewish folk songs and French poetry, and appeared in the form of a fusion of Trip-Hop, folk music and French pop music, which won great success in Europe. A song "Jardind' Hiver" even shocked the 80-year-old French Bossa Nova originator Henri Salvador. The latter included 5 songs by Benjamin in his classic comeback album "Chambre Avec Vue", including "Jardind' Hiver" Music composed by Biolay and Keren Ann.
Keren Ann is a girl who sings about life in French. Her ballads are really "fresh" and are connected with ancient legends. They hold hands with the lingering stories of the distant years and are directly carried on the simple In the sound of musical instruments. However, starting from the second album "La Disparition", Keren Ann added more jazz and blues elements to the folk songs, said to be because she listened to a lot of Chet Baker and Tom Waits. So freshness itself is also very different. 16 years old, 30 years old, 50 years old, 80 years old, each has a different listening quality. If you are a lovely folk musician, it depends on what you encounter. In short, No matter how you play the notes, no matter how you make the sound, you will always create something "fresh". Keren Ann's first English album "Not Going Anywhere" is like this. It has nothing to do with language changes. It's like a waterfall turning into a stream or underground water, but the water is still water. The same is true for folk songs. There seems to be only one path, from fresh to fresh.
The singing of "Not Going Anywhere" is more bluesy and more low-key. The slightly decadent and light tone runs through the serenade-like theme song, through the dreamy harmony of "End Of May", and also throughout the only song with a strong rhythm, "Sail or And Widow". Even the Christmas nursery rhyme-like "Right Now And Right Here", the extremely beautiful chanson "By The Cathedral" and the "Spanish Song Bird" with a hint of Latin guitar are all shrouded in a layer of sentimentality. In the mist. The early trip-hop rhythmic appearance has been hidden, transformed into the inner gloominess of Beth Gibbons. In addition to jazz and blues elements, Keren Ann also draws more nutrients from Chamber Pop, French pop, Bossanova and even classical music. You can feel the soft and delicate French pop love songs of Jane Birkin and Francoise Hardy; Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega Sweet North American New York folk music; Club 8 or Belle&Sebastian's simple and elegant acoustic instrumental music and Nick Drake's cute melancholy.
Some people say that Keren Ann’s music is suitable as background music in any coffee shop in the world. This is obviously reasonable, but such a gorgeous yet minimalist and reserved work is more suitable for private listening. Keren Ann's beautiful whisper is like fragile crystal glass, and like a cool mountain spring in a humid summer. Her purity is like a rose before thorns and cannot survive long in the world.