Review: Joséphine Ancelle - The I Love You's

Joséphine Ancelle - The I Love You's
2009, Joséphine Ancelle

Joséphine Ancelle left home in Paris at the tender age of 17, moving to Montreal in pursuit of her dream, a career in music. Her two years there found her joining The People's Gospel Choir Of Montreal and winning a Vibe Award with that group. All the while she was biding her time for the jump to New York City, the center of the music world in her eyes. Ancelle threw herself into the city's music scene. She wrote and recorded her debut album, Unfinished Life (2007), which received rave reviews from around the world (including here at Wildy's World), and continued to grow as both an artist and a person. Two years later that growth is exceedingly evident on her follow-up EP, The I Love You's.

Ancelle has one of those voices where you just hope she never stops singing, and that hasn't changed, but the quality of her songwriting has matured significantly in the two years that have passed since Unfinished Life was released. Ancelle's ability to project herself honestly into her songs is both breathtaking and refreshing. She doesn't waste a moment, opening with Les "Je T'aime" (The I Love You's); a brilliant bit of folk pop done primarily in English but with some French as well. It's a childlike yet mature perspective on love and has serious commercial potential. Si C'Etait La is a gorgeous francophone ballad. My 20+ year old high school French can't keep up with Ancelle, but her voice soars like that of an angel. The arrangement is wonderfully lush and the melody is subtle but unforgettable.

Half Of Me reminds me seriously of Lisa Loeb. Ancelle has that same nerdy/sexy emotional un-sureness that Loeb personified in the mid-1990's. This is a love song that's highly personal, highly vulnerable, and very highly licensable. I Think Of You is a lovely English/French song of longing. There is something incredibly pure and heartfelt about Ancelle's singing style here, and the arrangement is amazing. Ancelle ends on a high note: I'm Happy captures the amazement and "floating" feeling of new love perfectly in song. There are no filters here; no attempt to make things sound like a storybook. It's just pure emotion, honest written and transfer from heart to voice and heart to guitar. The song is brilliant.

If I have one complaint about The I Love You's, it's that the CD is only five songs long. The EP is an amazing leap forward from a highly talented artist whose limits are likely as high or low as she sets them herself. In our review of Ancelle's debut album and in this review we have noted similarities or resemblances to other artists, but I have a feeling it won't be too long before we and other folks in the music media are comparing new and up-coming artists to Joséphine Ancelle. The I Love You's is brilliant, a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc. Make sure you check it out.

Review: 5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Joséphine Ancelle on MySpace or Facebook, and you can follow here on Twitter! The I Love You’s will be released on or about the first week in October here in the US, and will debut at a show on September 28, 2009 in Paris, France. Keep checking her MySpace page for availability.