GRÉGORY LEMARCHAL
JE DEVIENS MOI
(Mercury/France, 2006)
I bought Grégory Lemarchal's album online a few months ago, in the midst of a recent Franco-pop bent. He was one of those pop singers who got a record deal as a result of a TV talent competition (France's "Star Academy", in this case), but I gave him a chance anyway. I ended up being somewhat enchanted by his music (not to mention his adorable face). Little did I know that, just a few months later, I would be reading of his unfortunate death, at the tender age of 24.
Grégory suffered from cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease which progressively weakens most of the body's systems, but one would never know it to hear him sing. The seemingly boundless energy that resonates from his multi-octave, quasi-opera-singer voice belies the image of his wiry body, and Grégory succeeds effortlessly in lifting each song into the clouds. Or maybe it's the songs lifting Grégory into the clouds...?
One thing becomes clear when listening to this album: the producers knew the kind of songs that would most effectively complement the strengths of Grégory's voice. Rather than cookie-cutter "Euro-pop" stuff (which they could have easily gone with, considering his obvious appeal to the teen girl demographic), the disc mainly consists of a variety of appropriately (but not too) sophisticated "adult contemporary pop" material ... there's the occasional rocker ("Je Suis En Vie"), the soaring anthemic number ("Le Feu Sur Les Planches"), and even a combination of both ("Je T'Ecris", which slowly builds over its six-and-a-half minutes from a quiet piano ballad to a chest-swelling crescendo), as well as a bilingual (English and French) ballad: "Meme Si (What You're Made Of)", a charming duet with European pop singer Lucie Silvas.
I suppose it's impossible to not hear an album in a different way after the artist has died ... or to not feel just a little bit guilty that I didn't appreciate the album more while the artist was still alive ... but at least I was able to hear his music and eventually enjoy it. And, at the risk of sounding pretentious, I'll always feel like my CD collection has a hole in it, wondering what delightful music he might have given us on subsequent albums, if he'd only had the chance.
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