AAW: Multitude by Stromae

(Originally posted 11 March 2022)

This week has probably been the week where I listened to non-AAW albums the most all year. That might say something about this album, but it probably says more about me.

I listened to Stromae a little bit in high school, and my French has certainly not improved since then. I doubt his has changed much, and neither has his musical style. Same guy, for sure. Quick note: I don’t have an easy way to type accents right now, and lots of these titles involve them. I’ll be leaving them out here.

It’s a good album, I recommend it regardless of whether you’re a francophone or francophony like myself. The first song, Inviancu, is really solid but if you live with small children I don’t recommend letting them listen. One of the main thematic elements is exactly the sort of thing I can imagine a kid hearing and thinking “Oh, that’s great! I’m going to just do that all the time, loudly, over and over again!” And it’ll drive you crazy whether or not they’re good at it. But maybe I’m a pessimist. It’s a good song, and it’s a really good opening song to the album. Stromae is a rapper, and the production of his music is always pretty intentional, so this album is very cohesive musically- and I bet lyrically too, if I’d been paying attention.

I’d probably put this on if I was going to do a lot of cleaning; It seems like it’d be good for that.

Notable songs: Fils de joie has a really fun fiddle line that permeates the entire piece. La solassitude, especially for the bass. Mon amour has a really fun structure. Mauvaise journee is really the only sad one I think, and it definitely reads like “Sad French song”  in a way that works well.

Top Pick: Sante; It’s really fun!

Next week’s album: Naturally, by J. J. Cale. This was one of the two albums I listened to a lot this week (Instead of this one.)

Editor's note: I don't think I ever wrote that post. But it's a good album, give it a listen!