Carla Bruni Comme si de rien n’était (As If Nothing Happened) Two years after setting to music an anthology of English-language poems from the 19th and 20th centuries, Carla Bruni has once again taken up her pen to write a new album of original songs, the first since her inaugural and highly successful CD, Quelqu’un m’a dit (Someone Told Me), in 2002. What immediately strikes you when listening to Comme si de rien n’était is its lush instrumental palette. After recording two CDs with an uncluttered, folk-blues style, the singer explores a wide spectrum of genres ranging from pop to bluegrass, with nods to jazz and flamenco. Bruni’s touch, however, is immediately apparent in these compositions that again focus their gaze on emotion. “I’ve been following the same thread since I started writing songs”, she says. Centred on a core of accompanists who recorded the titles live (bass, drums, guitar, keyboard, harmonica), Comme si de rien n’était sounds almost like an album recorded by a band. Despite this group aspect, however, the album actually seems more personal than its predecessors. “There are more participants, but the CD is just as much mine as the first two. I don’t have the impression at all that my songs were taken away from me and changed”, says Bruni. Responsible for the album’s sound, producer Dominique Blanc-Francard adorned Bruni’s new compositions with rich and varied accents. “When songs come to mind, I take care of their essence; I don’t dress them up”, explains the singer. After working exclusively with Louis Bertignac on her first two albums, she turned to a colleague she had met during the sound recording of her concerts at the Trianon Theatre in Paris in 2004. “I would find it very hard to work with a complete stranger. It’s really important for the recording to go smoothly”. The album wrapped last winter at the Labomatic studios near the Champs-Elysées. Benjamin Biolay did the string arrangement for the song L'amoureuse. Julien Clerc, who has collaborated with Bruni for a number of years, having been the first to set to music her lyrics for the album Si j'étais elle (If I were her), composed a superb melody for Bruni’s gentle lyrics in Déranger les pierres: “Et je veux déranger les pierres / changer le visage de mes nuits / faire la peau à ton mystère / et le temps j’en fais mon affaire”. (“And I want to shake things up / change the tenor of my nights / strip away your mystique / and make time my affair”). Many of the words focus on the sensation of passing time (My Youth, Passing Time, The Antelope). A melancholy tone offsets the lyrics’ playful side, lending this album a nice balance. “I’m sombre and rather playful myself”, Bruni happily concedes. “I delight in despair”. In addition to the 10 original compositions penned by the songwriter, the album includes a musical adaptation of a poem by French author Michel Houellebecq called La Possibilité d’une Ile, a transcription of a Lied by German composer Robert Schumann on Je suis un enfant (I'm a child) and two songs in a foreign language: You Belong to Me, an American classic popularized by Dylan, and Il Vecchio e Il Bambino by Italian anarchist Francesco Guccini. “English and Italian are ideal languages for singing”, says Bruni, “but French is ideal for writing”. www.carlabruni.com Born in 1967 in Turin, Italy to a concert pianist (mother) and an industrialist and opera composer, Carla Bruni moved with her family to France at the age of 5 to flee the Red Brigades terrorist group. She learned to play the piano and guitar at a young age, inheriting her family’s love of music, which surrounded her from her earliest childhood. Also passionate about literature and writing, she composed songs in her spare time. After studying architecture, Bruni embarked on a modeling career in 1985, attaining super model status and becoming the symbol for top fashion houses until 1997. In the late 1990s, Bruni changed direction when she decided to launch a music career, first as a songwriter for Julien Clerc, for whom she wrote several songs for his album Si j’étais elle (If I Were Her), then as a singer-songwriter-composer for her first album, Quelqu’un m’a dit (Someone Told Me), released in 2002. Composed with the help of Louis Bertignac, who also produced the album, Quelqu’un m’a dit was an instant hit. Acclaimed by critics, the album sold two million copies. In 2003, Bruni won the Prix Raoul Breton, awarded by SACEM (French association of songwriters and composers) to recognize and encourage an up-and-coming songwriter or composer. She was awarded the Victoire de la Musique for Best Female Artist the same year. On 15 January 2007, Bruni released her second album, No Promises, which sets English poems to music. Among the poets she selected were Yeats, Auden, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Walter de la Mare and Dorothy Parker. This second work, which sold more than 400,000 copies worldwide, shot to the top of the charts in both France and Europe. Her third album is set for release on 11 July 2008 and is entitled Comme si de rien n’était (As If Nothing Happened), the title of a photographic work by her brother Virginio Bruni Tedeschi that appears in the album’s booklet. Produced by Dominique Blanc-Francard, the album comprises 14 titles, most of which were written and composed by Bruni with the exception of La Possibilité d’une Ile, a poem by French author Michel Houellebecq and set to music by Bruni; Déranger les Pierres, with lyrics by Bruni set to music by Julien Clerc; and two previously performed pieces, You Belong To Me, a title popularized by Bob Dylan and featured in the original film score of Natural Born Killers, and Il Vecchio e Il Bambino, written by Italian anarchist Francesco Guccini. Musicians: Denis Benarrosh: drums, percussion Dominique Blanc-Francard: electric and acoustic guitar, tambourine, organ, vibraphone, pedal steel guitar, bass guitar, 6-string bass Laurent Vernerey: basse électrique / bass guitar, double bass Freddy Koella: acoustic and electric guitar, baryton, Dobro guitar, banjo, mandolin, violin Michel Amsellem: Rhodes piano, piano, keyboards Charles Pasi: harmonica Benjamin Biolay: string arrangements Thierry Farrugia: flute, soprano saxophone, clarinet String quartet Christophe Morin: cello Elsa Benabdallah: 2nd violin Florent Bremond: alto Karen Brunon: 1st violin Recorded by Bénédicte Schmitt at labomatic studios, Paris Produced, mixed and mastered by Dominique Blanc-Francard at Labomatic Studios, Paris p& © 2008 TEOREMA exclusively licensed to naïve cover photo : JB Mondino Inside photo : JB Mondino Photo "comme si de rien n'était" : © Virginio Bruni Tedeschi Drawings: Florence Deygas Artwork: Add a dog, Paris.