Coeur De Pirate Charms In Montreal

There's a young Montreal chanteuse who's all the rage in her home province.

She's even made considerable inroads in the other major francophone markets like France and Belgium, which were naturally dazzled by the singer's irresistible charm and megawatt smile (she's sold 170,000 copies of her record in France).

Yet beyond a spot on the 2009 Polaris Music Prize long list and some fleeting blog love, Beatrice Martin, known artistically as Coeur De Pirate, remains a rather unknown quantity in the rest of Canada. She's a fashionable namedrop among music media types, but otherwise largely ignored.

It's not surprising, given the 20-year-old songwriter's lyrics are written exclusively in Canada's other official language. But so many of the traits that have endeared her to francophones the world over are translatable into any tongue, including her undeniable talent and charisma as a performer.

You may have even followed this year's Grammy Awards, where equally promising female talents Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga were rewarded for being young, pretty and eloquent. The music is good, and Coeur De Pirate is definitely one of those "total package" types the music business tend to gush about.

This particular two-night headlining set (she performed the following day at the same venue), was certainly verging on overkill for live performances of her eponymous debut — which came out in 2008 and has been the most talked about record in Quebec ever since. Coeur De Pirate is full of straightforward, simple piano-songwriter fare, but as with any solitary performer, it oozes the inimitable personality of its creator.

The age-old formula has cast a very wide net in this case: this night's Coeur De Pirate audience featured a varied audience. It included pure laine couples ecstatic to see such a young artist adhering largely to traditional "chanson Quebecoise;" young families with prepubescent children sitting on the bar of gay village venue Le National; teenagers (especially girls) who identify with her rebellious spirit, her carefree goldilocks, tattooed arms and musings on love; unintimidated anglophones and other subdivisions more commonly noticed at pop music shows.

In such uncertain times for the music industry, Coeur De Pirate has been an unexpected homerun in a cultural market willing to embrace unconventional homebrews.

Figuring this to be among her final shows before returning to the studio to complete her follow-up, one can see a steady diet of performing over the last two years have dulled the timidity that at times marred her early sets. On record, the arrangements are minimal, allowing her very tremulous vocals just enough room to emerge above whisper level.

Just listening to Coeur De Pirate tackle cutesy album opener "Le Long Du Large" with a bit of an improvisational angle — she hit different notes on the refrain, but still keeping the spirit of the studio version — one can see how she's comfortably grown into her material. Eyes and shirt gleaming, singing with an unflinchable smile, Martin and her backing band briskly blew through the set with little stage banter or configuration changes.

It's something she may want to change, since her song intro for "Printemps" and talking about her experience at the 2003 Vans Warped Tour were actually quite enjoyable. Her song intro for "Francis" also made for a unique moment in Montreal concertdom, as her generic "Is everybody ready?" question was met with an enthusiastic "Oui" from the dozen or so children in the audience, to everyone's delight.

More importantly, she played a handful of songs not immediately recognizable from the record, although only "Tout Reste Du Pareil Au Meme," a very bouncy, guitar-based track, was identified as a new cut. The other two played immediately after felt like more ornate explorations of the moodier tracks on her album, with heartbreaking strings and more emotive vocals. She also ably performed a Malajube cover, the ballad "Etienne D'Aout."

Perfectly bilingual, Coeur De Pirate also tackled a couple of english covers: an a cappella rendition of Gershwin's "Someone To Watch Over Me," and Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love." She may not be the flashiest singer around, but her intonation is unique and these humdrum covers were delivered with more dynamism than your standard Idol fare.

Based on this particular show, don't expect Martin's next album to explore any vastly different terrain than personal songwriting. But don't be surprised either if the production and arrangements get beefed up considerably to denote her growing profile.

Coeur De Pirate is on track to become one of Canada's most popular musical exports, so consider this a recommendation to continue to follow her output, whether you live in Quebec or not.