Blonde (Cœur de pirate album)
| Blonde | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Cœur de pirate | ||||
| Released | November 7, 2011 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 36:08 | |||
| Label | Grosse Boîte | |||
| Producer | Howard Bilerman | |||
| Cœur de pirate chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Blonde | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| The Gazette (Montreal) | |
| Hour Community |  |
| Mezzic | 7.7/10 |
| PopMatters |   |
| Voir | |
Blonde is the second studio album by female Quebec singer-songwriter Béatrice Martin, released under her stage name Cœur de pirate, on November 7, 2011. It featured a musical shift from the primarily piano-based sound of Martin's first record into a more "retro-pop" sound, inspired heavily by the music and style of the 1960s.
Blonde was well received by critics, and was nominated for Francophone Album of the Year at the 2012 Juno Awards and longlisted for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize. The album also reached number 1 in Quebec, number 5 in France, and number 2 in the French part of Belgium, and was certified gold in both Canada and Belgium.
Blonde is Martin's second studio album and follows her 2008 self-titled debut, which launched her career and transformed her from "the invisible teenager to a bit of a star" in both Quebec and France. In September 2010, Martin was featured on "Brutal Hearts" on the Bedouin Soundclash album Light the Horizon, which was praised by Exclaim! as a "surprise standout" of the album. In February 2011, Martin and Bedouin Soundclash singer Jay Malinowski collaborated under the name Armistice to release a five-song self-titled EP. The album's "blaring horns, woozy strings and skipping rhythm" was described as "aural equivalent of [a] dusty desert", already reflecting a change in Martin's music.
Martin co-produced Blonde with Montreal's Howard Bilerman, known for his previous work with Arcade Fire and Basia Bulat, and recorded all but one of the album's songs in his Montreal studio, Hotel2Tango. She chose to work with Bilerman based on his experience with folk music, and though her album "didn't turn out that way" she praised him for "[seeing] things in my songs that other people don’t see". In addition, Martin worked with Edmonton singer-songwriter Michael Rault in order to achieve a more "sixties sound". The album production was praised for "hold[ing] back" on arrangements and not going "over-the-top orchestral" on the tracks "Cap-Diamant" and "Place de la République".
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