New Dionysos LP, with Eric Cantona!

Your blogger generally has a backlog of CDs to listen to, and is usually quite methodical about it - new music to the bottom of the pile, the back of the line, while the older stuff gets played first. It's our token attempt at being professional.

However, today the new album by French band Dionysos (right), 'La Mécanique Du Coeur', got to skip the queue, slip inside the velvet rope, step in ahead of the ordinaries.

Why? Well, it's not every record that features Le Roi himself, Eric Cantona. And there he is on the very last track, 'Epilogue'. Our heart skipped a beat; we skipped right to the end of the album...

Alas, Eric doesn't sing on this track; his contribution is spoken word. 'La Mécanique Du Coeur' is based on a novel by Dionysos singer Mathias Malzieu that tells the story of a dreamy romance in a dark, nightmarish world (similar to Tim Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'). Cantona's role is merely as storyteller, to wrap up the tale in the manner of his other profession: actor (he's been getting positive reviews recently for his performance in crime flick 'Le Deuxième Souffle').

Anyway, the album is a fine one - dreamy, imaginative cabaret-pop (that's cabaret like Kurt Weill, not cabaret like Sonny Knowles) that fans of Regina Spektor, Rufus Wainwright or Duke Special would like. Malzieu's voice is a bit thin for the topsy-turvy melodies he crafts, but it's his collaborators who make this record special. Apart from Eric, there are impressive turns by French chanteuse Olivia Ruiz (Malzieu's partner), venerable actor Jean Rochefort, and the marvellous Emily Loizeau (yes, we're raving about her again, we know. We can't help it).

You can listen to some extracts from 'La Mécanique Du Coeur' on its dedicated MySpace page. This promo for the album will give you an idea of what it sounds like:

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