Lisa Papineau

Night Moves (Lunatic Works)

By Anne C. Johnson
Published: August 3rd, 2006 | 1:09pm

Lisa Papineau is quite an industrious woman. Not only has she worked in theatre and multimedia performance, she has also served as a film producer and contributed vocals to such varied artists as Air and P.O.D. Her own group, Pet, caught the attention of Tori Amos who signed them to her label, Igloo. Papineau’s latest musical project, Night Moves is a collaboration with French musicians, Thomas Huiban and Matthieu Le Senechal, and was recorded in her new home, Paris.

On Night Moves, Papineau experiments with stripping down her songs to a stark minimum that usually involves her vocals, some synthesizer, the occasional guitar, and a drum machine. The album peaks early with second track “Shucking. Jiving.” — a trip-hop excursion that sounds a bit like To Bring You My Love-era PJ Harvey in its shrieking earnestness. “Shucking. Jiving.” is a slight aberration from the fairly soothing tranquility of the rest of Night Moves. Papineau is at her best (“Call Me Frenchy”) when she simply creates an aura of intimacy. The album disappoints when the music becomes an intrusive mix of contrived vocals, arcane lyrics (which do tend to repeat themselves a little too often), and that incessant drum machine!

You’ve got to hand it to Papineau, particularly as someone who has struggled with “general public timidity,” for the daring of this effort, which is quite a cozy affair. As opener “Out to You” honestly discloses, she is pouring out her bleeding heart and holding it right out to you.

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Jen (11 months)
If you are a fan, check out my interview with Lisa Papineau for the debut episode of my podcast. She talks about the boatload of exciting stuff she is going to release this summer. www.zyzxxzine.com or subscribe for free at Itunes (search zyzxx)