Aidan Curran posted on October 04, 2009 19:00
The current CLUAS Gig of the Fortnight is the show on 6 October at The Joinery Gallery in Dublin by Thinguma*jigsaw, the Norwegian pair who came to Ireland for a while and ended up making a fairly dark and idiosyncratic kind of alt-folk. (Because that's what coming to live in Ireland does to some people.) They should be good in concert.
And what has this to do with your Paris correspondent?
So Thinguma*jigsaw haven't any French links. But there are a few support acts on the night. First up is Limerick's hugely impressive Peter Delaney, followed by American troubadour Sport Murphy. Okay, no Frenchness so far.
But then you have a duo called Arlt (right). And Arlt are French. Her name is Eloise Decazes. But he calls himself Sing Sing and that's the kind of thing that usually has us edging towards the door.
Fortunately, their songs are better than his nom de rock. Arlt's brand of folk has a distinctive French feel to it - not just because they sing in their native language, but because Decazes croons and trills like she's in some smoky pre-war Parisian music hall. And their songs are a lot more melodic than the monotonous bobo-busking that passes for contemporary chanson française.
If you're one of these people who never bother seeing support acts and stay rooted in some nearby pub until five minutes before the main act, then you're almost as much an eejit as someone who calls themselves Sing Sing. Arlt are grand in their way, but Peter Delaney is really good and may very well steal the show. Go and hear.
Anyway, Arlt. They'll have an album out soon, but in the meantime you can check out their MySpace page for tunes and the like.
And if you want to see what you'll be giving up your pre-gig pint for, here they are in concert singing 'De Haut En Bas', which means 'from top to bottom':
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