d. 7. feb. 2019
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Chris Mosey
d. 7. feb. 2019
"Gone is the light, bubbly approach that has been her hallmark. Aimée is now a "musical interpreter," no less, and is devoting a whole album to the late works of American composer Stephen Sondheim ... Whether these songs deserve her devotion is (...) debatable ... Sondheim's recent work is frankly stodgy, with an over-emphasis on words and not enough attention paid to the music ... Aimée copes pretty well. Occasional bursts of scat singing show she can still do jazz, and perhaps indicate nervousness concerning her change of direction. Her affection for these Sondheim songs seems genuine. Underneath her frothy French persona, Aimée is a tough cookie who will undoubtedly weather the storm should the rest of the world not share her enthusiasm".
d. 8. mar. 2019
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Andrew Gilbert
d. 8. mar. 2019
"Sondheim's work is generally viewed, with some justification, as being tough to cover. But by embracing the emotional complexity of his oeuvre, Cyrille Aimée offers an object lesson in how to make difficult material one's own ... As an autobiographical song cycle tracing the vertiginous trajectory of an ill-fated relationship, the album works on every level, drawing strength from the original contexts of the songs while serving her particular needs as a storyteller. What's most impressive is the way Aimée draws on her varied musical experiences, starting with the lapidary loops on the unaccompanied version of "When I Get Famous." She summons the street beats of New Orleans, her adopted hometown, on "Take Me to the World," and mines a deep vein of ambivalence with Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo, a longtime collaborator, on "Marry Me a Little" and "With So Little to Be Sure Of"".
2019 March
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James Hale
2019 March
"Maybe it's experience throwing herself into tongue-tripping gypsy jazz or an almost flawless conversion from singing in her native French to English, but Cyrille Aimée seems fearless at tackling Sondheim ... Aimée's vocal range isn't large, and the more naked arrangements - like the duet with bassist Jérémy Bruyère on "I Believe In You" - expose limitations that even the best compositions can't obscure".
