Carla Bruni, No Promises

I had fun reviewing the new Carla Bruni album for Drum media:CARLA BRUNI
No Promises

It doesn’t augur well. No Promises is a collection of musical adaptations of classic poems performed by former supermodel Carla Bruni. I know what you’re thinking; it sounds like a stinking turd of an idea. Stop your cynical sniggering though, because, far from being a laughable display of ill-judged narcissism, this is actually a very good record.

In fact, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to learn that this is a quality effort, as the first album of chanson ditties from the Italian-born, French-raised star, 2003’s Quelqu'un m'a dit, received gushing reviews and sold two million units worldwide. This time around, she has moved away from singing solely in French and instead gleans lyrics from the work of WB Yeats, Dorothy Parker, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti and WH Auden. The result is an elegant, atmospheric body of beautiful joy and melancholy.

Bruni’s breathy vocal conjures up juxtaposing images of smoky underground blues cafés and sun-drenched parks and is nicely backed up by unobtrusive acoustic guitar, brushed drums and keyboards. The majority of this record was recorded on an eight-track and is suitably understated. The whispered harmonica on standout track Autumn is a delectable example of this, and perfectly illustrates of the overall elegance of the album. It really is impossibly lovely stuff.

Let’s just hope that Bruni’s surprisingly successful and credible transition from the catwalk to the recording studio doesn’t give other supermodels any silly ideas. Cindy Crawford sings the poems of Charles Bukowski? No thanks.