Bertrand Belin

Just discovering, a little belatedly, a French singer-songwriter, who is categorized, as these things seem to go over there, as indie rock, but he’s a balladeer, as much as anything, and is, to some extent not easily pigeonholed, like the Beatles weren’t, once they began experimenting with how to stretch their art. The French, I’ve found, often stretch the genre of blogging as well, and this link is an example. It’s a post from 2010, in which the blog writer and Belin, accompanied by two cellists, sought a spot to make an impromptu, really more like a pop-up concert. And they found a gallery, a street bazaar, in an Arab quarter, in a spot near a Turkish café, and with permission from the café owner, recorded what has been a mega-hit (apparently: nearly two million likes on Spotify) for Belin, and apparently as well typical of his weary romantic (with an air of dissipation and ennui, like all the great French café singers) songs. It’s called “Hypernuit” (hyper night) and is worth more than on listen. The video is atmospheric, for sure, but is beautifully recorded for the audio. And quite haunting. The lyrics, though, frankly, are a little ridiculous.
http://en.blogotheque.net/2010/09/20/bertrand-belin-en/