News

FREYjA & Mykey will be performing as a duo a selection of FREYjA songs along with a bunch of their collaborative compositions at BAR ME (El Rocco Club downstairs)

Sunday 15 July @ El Rocco Cellar (Bar Me) 8.30pm $15 entry or $30 for dinner & show (piano & vocals )

Bookings are advised. Call 93680894 or email reservations@barme.com.au

Believe it or not, THIS GIRL is finally going to be released. This month FREYjA is rerecording the vocals on numerous songs & then the album will be mastered at last.

Just in time to make way for the 16!!!! new songs she has recently co-written with pianist/ arranger/ songwriter Mykey. You can listen to 3 of them on MYSPACE. Mykey is also the arranger/ songwriter/ band leader for the awesome Gospel band Ometis, which he put together 10 years ago & half of the creative drive behind his collaborative project Jaymy. One busy musician that one!

New photos taken at Weemoed Cabaret Club in Amsterdam by Martin Pluimers are up at MYSPACE. They will be up on this site soon

FREYjA reviewed the cd launch of KOTA at the Sunrise Sunset, Paris. To read it check out FREYjA blog at MYSPACE

FREYjA has been invited to join gypsy world music band La Vie En Rose. She got up on stage with them in Amsterdam recently & had a ball. It is a great opportunity to sing new original music & sing in spanish, portugese, french & even one song in indonesian!

La Vie en Rose band leader/ songwriter/ violinist Lucas has also started a new quartet with FREYjA & Mykey called St Michel Project. Three part harmony vocals with piano, percussion & violin.

After returning from a 2 month stint in Australia FREYjA came home to Paris to some terrific concerts at Sunset & Sept Lezards. Summer however, is now on in Europe & so she is taking a creative break. Plenty of new songs are on their way!

Bric-à-Brac interview in english (in french): The Catholic Institute of Paris printed their first colour edition of their international student neswpaper especially in honour of FREYjA & threw an overwhelming event with fans from all over the world present. Fatima, our glamourous hostess, along with William Sanchez, co-editor of the mag. created a magical night & they even hired a piano, just for the evening so that FREYjA could play & sing. The interview is in french but there will be a translation in english soon Interview Adobe PDF Format en francais:

THIS GIRL is looking to be released by the end of the year, just in time for Xmas so keep checking the site for news & make sure you are on the mailing list

FREYjA will be singing with Jeff Hoffman (guitar) & Bruno Rousselet (double bass) at the Australia Embassy Xmas Party

There are many other Australian artists in Paris & the AFA is doing a wonderful job putting us on the map

Je n'ai pas pu attendre les extraits à venir sur ta radioblog alors je suis allé sur le site de la déesse et après écoute des morceaux des deux premiers albums... je me suis retrouvé chez CDBaby et je suis maintenant dans l'attente de "Freyja with Rebecca Rennie" :-)

la voix de la demoiselle et les mélodies vont très bien avec cet fin d'après midi. J'espère que le nouvel opus sera rapidement disponible à la vente.

English:

I couldnt wait for samples to arrive on your radio blog & now that I have gone to the site of the goddess & after listening to some of her songs from the first 2 albums...I found myself at CDBaby & am now awaiting "FREYjA with Rebecca Rennie" to arrive in the post

The voice of the young woman & the melodies go so well with the end of this afternoon. I hope that the new opus is going to be available to buy very soon.

Freyja signifie déesse de l'amour, de la beauté et de la poésie... Pour l'amour ce n'est pas à moi d'en juger, pour la beauté je vous laisse apprécier la photo ci-dessus, par contre, en matière musicale et poétique, aucun doute possible Rebecca Rennie (c'est son véritable nom) est une délicieuse petite déesse autralienne. Comédienne, pianiste, auteur-compositeur-interprète, Freyja est une véritable artiste qui bénéficie de nombreux talents dont elle nous fait profiter au travers de son nouvel album (le 3ème) intitulé "this girl". Un 3ème opus dans lequel elle reprend entre autres Gainsbourg ou Brel pour ne citer qu'eux... Superbe !

Une voix magnifique, des inspirations venues du monde entier, sa musique est une sorte de jazzy-lounge aux arrangements étonnants, une musique qui risque bien de vous envouter...

Pour profiter pleinement de l'univers magique de Freyja et en attendant la sortie prochaine de "this girl", je ne peux que vous conseiller de vous procurer ses deux précédents albums, "Freyja with Rebecca Rennie" et "The siren's Odyssey", indispensables selon moi...

Freyja sera en concert au 7 LEZARDS le mercredi 7 décembre, c'est simple, si vous n'y allez pas, je vous jette un sort ! :)

In English:

FREYjA means Goddess of Love Beauty & Poetry…it is not for me to judge about love, but for beauty I will let you appreciate the picture above, otherwise, concerning music & poetry, there is absolutely no doubt that Rebecca Rennie (this is her true name) is a lovely little Australian goddess. Actress, pianiste, author-composer-interpretor, FREYjA is a true artist of many talents which she has taken advantage of on her latest album (the 3rd) entitled This Girl. A 3rd opus in which she covers Gainsbourg & Brel …Superb! A wonderful voice, & inspirations from all over the world, her music is a kind of jazz lounge with surprising arrangements, you risk being cast under a spell by her songs

To make the most of the magic universe of FREYjA, while awaiting for the launch of This Girl I advise you to buy the last 2 albums FREYjA with Rebecca Rennie & The Siren’s Odyssey; absolutely essential in anyone’s collection…

FREYjA will be in concert at 7 LEZARDS Wednesday, it is simple, if you don’t go, I will cast a spell on you! :)

the bilboquet concerts in st germain - what can one say? what a room! what a crowd....they were flowing in off the street & some punters even came back for a second show.

travellers from all over the globe enjoyed this series of concerts in st germain & begged for more.

the brasilians loved it & FREYjA loved the brasilians - cant wait to see her up on stage in you black dress, mr villaventura!

I arrived from the station, the sole passenger on a huge bus. A meager 80 centimes is cost me but I tipped the driver as he was such a dear, full of useful tid-bits…the location of all the bus stops, the detailed & gloomy weather forecast (completely erroneous of course! for there has been nothing but splendid blue skies my entire 4 days), but most importantly (& the one thing which certain persons in Paris will be glad to know will bring me home on Sat as anticipated!) is that there will be an annual race on this Sunday…in which every Marsilian (how on earth does one describe them-folk from Marseilles? you have to admit it was a good try) & his son will run…it seems the entire southern coast will be trying his hand (foot) at it & all the roads will be blocked. I would have dearly loved to have stayed on a little longer, just as certain persons expected I might, but all the hotels are full of course & I think my solitude, in any case, might be somewhat compromised by such an onslaught of sport enthusiasts.

You might well wonder why I, as a runner/ walker myself, do not feel compelled to join them? I say, when it comes to any form of sport, I am habitually anti-social (amongst all the other departments I am anti-social within) & cringe as I imagine tripping up some stranger’s proverbial in front or suffering a kick in my own rear from some snotty, pre-adolescent shoes-too-big, deliberately dressed so by stuffy, smartarse parents anticipating a growth-spurt (though not in their own economy!)

I am off & away from the city – by the seaside by the sea! My new adventure, within & without, has begun

My first meal at a fish restaurant mais biensur! Bonaparte’s - Where every guest turns to watch me as I come in alone & wait alone to be seated alone….I can sense their questioning why is she alone? does she feel ok being alone? does she seem to choose to be alone? (the French, being such social animals themselves, more or less leave one well alone but they do seem to check first that one is ok with it & sum up things for themselves before resuming their former state of indifference)…. I make myself at home with my newspaper, the act of which seems to alleviates both my self-consiousness & everyone else’s curiosity - ah, she is a foreigner THE GUARDIAN you see? they don’t like that so much, or she is a writer, oh, yes one of those, they like that…..(I have a pencil behind my ear & take endless notes, as one does, in the margins by the articles I will later maul as fodder for my work – my book, my poems my songs….)

I often feel very self-conscious in France reading or writing at the dining table. The French I suspect, find it a little…well…sacrilegious…for the ritual of eating is so sacred to your culture & one should not be caught doing anything else simultaneously. I think they would prefer, for instance, if I sat, or rather ‘lounged’ as they do, contemplate space & reflect on the art of living, or at least appear as such, so as to make myself appear as if I were ready to launch into a political debate, or any philosophical tirade, on call. Appearances.

In any case, I read my paper as the little girl en face stares me down intently determined to work me out (though her tri-lingual, rollie-smoking parents appear much stranger, if you ask me). That failing, she is then determined to impress me with her ability to boss the waiters around. Charming him in her own French way I guess. My they learn young these french girls)

… the next morning I take myself off to the local markets where I buy supplies enough to get me through the next few days without spending money. It seems one has to spend money in order not to spend money! & that I do best. I buy apples, bananas, bread, cheese, strawberries (sweeeet) spinach, toms, cucumber, herring marinated in rum!( go figure!) & lemon ( & as it turn out, an unexpected plethora of chilli which has me coughing in shock every meal time for the next 2 days) I buy water & juice & eucalyptus for my gritty chest

I take myself up over the hill, following my nose as usual. Of course, I fall for a wee house along the way & swear to be just wealthy enough someday to own this pretty pink porch, a cottage sitting simple in a garden of olives, cumquats, apples, lorelei & all else. I go off a beaten track & discover a tranquil cove, which I assume I have all to myself, I recline on my rock for no time before I dive into a fresh, healing bath of heaven.

I swim & swim & swim. I reflect too, on this peace of mind afforded me, knowing there is no woman-eating life lurking below. That a Sydney-side swimmer would worry about such a thing as a shark attack in the Med is quite hilarious, I know, but I am unfamiliar with the wildlife in these parts & though I have never heard of a fish, jelly or shark attack here I sure am curious to read a passage in Collette where she speaks of “the shark season in Provence waters”. It takes some panicked back flipping of pages to discover that this, in fact, happens at the height of Mediterranean summer. In any case, I swim free free free & would swim all the way to Turkey but I have forgotten my goggles

There is so much more to tell. The details of these gentle days, still full of their highs & lows, but more of the former of course. It seems my solitude brings out the most interesting in the world for me as it gives me the space & inclination to do what I do best, which is to capture moods, flavors, memories, sentiments & reflections through my unencumbered, my uncrowded senses; to write. Where all is aflow, all clarity, my various muses (one being the sea) come together & draw on my urges to realize them in verse or prose (or do I draw off their urges? who drives who? the artist or the muse?) to banter, & roll the mind in me along.

Just at this moment the waiter…..no, actually I think he is a sea-captain come in off the street….arrests my attention to say
you are very inspired madame
I tell him I don’t understand
I said you are writing & you are very inspired
I reply, yes, & remain as aloof as I can, for I can tell it is a pick-up line he is rather proud of & I really do not want to stop my train of though mid through like that for such a stupid evident sun-struck brain….but he carries on, there is more, he has found more…
I can see the way you look up with your eyes that you are reaching into your profoundest depths for your inspiration & you are finding it, are you not? well, if I weren’t so distracted by my letter here, I must say I would be rather impressed by his poeticism (however try-hard) but if I am, I deliberately give no sign of it & smile & say
oui monsieur lowering my head to show him just how inspired I really am & away with the pixies go I as far as he is concerned. I do not feel rude & it is not taken as such, because I know, & I use this completely to my advantage, he excuses me because I am clearly deep in my work & he can see I am not interested in conversation. Oh thank god.

I haven’t said half of my thoughts & experiences from this time. I have notes galore in my diary to share & which need to be set down. Needless to say there have been some lows: as a woman alone trying to find a taxi, now there is a frustrating story all to itself …but the lows are too few to mention in fact.

There are so many other tales however…the jazz lovers from Switzerland, he loves the mountains, she the sea, oh what a battle; the lonely Italian living in Germany who leaves her husband behind, much to his bewilderment, & re-ignites herself year after year in this village without him; the local Italian joint where they entrusted me their plates to take home & eat a Puttanesca at my leisure; the side-street Bonaparte, where I have eaten more than once now the freshest seafood this side of the village; the tan-oil offerer & his chocolate biscuit; the ex-smoker baking with a patch (max strength) on one arm & a chain-fag hanging off the other; the mad angry woman who followed me with her ravings in tow from supermarket to creperie; the Carmago Foundation….a full 4 days

As an adjunct, I need to say that I have finished Collette’s novelette these last few days too, which is largely autobiographical. She speaks to me deeply, it almost hurts to read her. She understands the difference between detachment & equanimity, it is the latter one strives for but the former is in fact a sibling to it – the balance between the two is what takes some fine tuning. She too confronts her emotions in solitude & extracts from them what she needs for her work. It is there she finds her serenity, & in only the simplest of loves.

Reflective in this silence by the sea.

the sydney show at bar me was a gentle farewell, packed with loyal old friends & followers & a moving treat for all involved, including matt & rebecca who will be sure to work alot together in the future

my life is brimming over with new songs in Paris - i walk with quiet gratitude for this fortunate life offered me - 'walk'? no, i prefer to travel aroung paris on a push-bike but it is still with grace in my heart that i go

working very hard with a team of amazing musicians & other supportive creatives chris cody, xavier navarre, bruno rousselet. we just recorded a new album together THIS GIRL which you can listen to on the cd page & which will be available to buy just as soon as we sign that elusive label deal coming our way

fashion photographer/ illusrator frances melhop came from milan to do a belle epoch themed photo shoot, shots will be up here soon

singing at some beautiful jazz boites & they are filling up, check out the latest paris review & another recent quote from paris

there is so much to share & i try to keep you up to date on this news page but we also love hearing from you too so please leave a message in the guestbook to join our mailing list

& of course, if you havent already, buy our cds today - now! go on & spread the word, your support is so important to us, it is what makes our art stay alive - the knowledge that you are there learning & listening through our muses

music is inspired by FREYjA the viking godess of love & her revolution begins at home so get the siren singing throughout the world - peace will reign

i went to see george washingmachine last night - australian dixieland singer /violinist who plays really trad & is simply too cool for school....waved them off on their annual European tour…awesome bunch of musicians.

as usual, i cycled home over the seine & past notre dame....what a picture postcard......is this my life?

there arent enough hours in the day with all the projects i have running.

mornings i attend to jazzabella stuff - my wee booking business based in Sydney. "hi i want a 13 piece big band for my wedding & a violinist to play during the ceremony. the reception is 7 hours out of sydney & will go from noon till midnight. do the musicians need a break in that time? if so, can you provide a dj at no extra cost? our caterer will charge to feed them so I hope they dont need to eat in this 12 hour period? please send us demo & video & dvd & songlist & wardrobe breakdown. what kind of sox will they be wearing, my mother in law is worried about that. our budget is $100 !!!!!" i am exaggerating, yes, but this is not so far from the truth some mornings & I have to deal with it which ever way it comes.

then i move onto local work - i touch base with my press agent/ manager - super hero # one - if it werent for her my FREYjA shows in Paris would be empty but for my 2 closest friends - that FREYjA can already fill venues here, this is so encouraging, i am building up a loyal following & their support is for my original FREYjA songs not just the standards. They buy my Cds too & they visit the guestbook (have youuuuuu?)

there are so many places to play here, of all sizes, so the dreams lie forever ahead of me cos there is always another bigger venue (boite) to play. i do wish we would wake up in Sydney, to the magic of live intimate music venues, too many last one year & then close down within no time because of fire/ noise regulations or exorbitant liquor license costs set by local publicans’ boys’ clubs who feel threatened by other bars enjoying a clientele looing for entertainment beyond the pokies

Michelle & i are determined to get hold of a label in europe so that i can release the latest cd THiS GiRL, we simply have to find someone with the right marketing budget & distribution outlets in Europe for FREYjA. it is difficult work to navigate but we are right on the edge of making this dream come true with meetings set up with a number of independents

A couple of prestigious local Paris rags have been at the concerts & will be doing stories on FREYjA. The new photos taken by Frances Melhop are great – check them out on the photos page (coming soon). Looks like the one with the bird & the frame might be THiS GiRL cd cover.

We are in converstaion with other organizations regarding label support & the rights to the Gainsbourg & Brel songs i covered on THiS GiRL. (One of which is a very very naughty song in French called L'eau a La Bouche, which means water from the mouth, amongst other things….)

We do up & distribute the fliers for every gig all over town & chase press listings of course, which is a lot of work per show.

in the afternoons i go up the Champs Elysees, around the Arc de Triomphe & arrive at the palatial home of an ambassador where i teach his little princess the piano, i teach her everyday. They are good people & always feed me treats. i have about 7 other students throughout the week. One English student & all the rest piano. i teach some in French & some in English, which has been a steep learning curve for me at times since it is quite a different language music in french, they use the sol fa system which means that notes are not a b c but do re mi fa etc....very confusing for me but i manage & the kids laugh at me which is fun

i am working soo soo hard & have never lived a poorer existence but i am so happy. i go out to the grand Bois de Vincennes a huge 'wood' park about 5 times the size of Centennial Park where guitarists gather in circles singing Paris S'Eveille (Paris wake up by Jacques Dutronc, a famous french singer i discovered when i lived here when i was 17) & i run there & i lie on the grass & ritualistically read my weekend telegraph from London. i meditatie when i can & catch a ray of this glorious Spring.

just got back from London where i saw Tim Freedman do an awesome solo gig at Ronny Scotts, he was a touch brain-bruised-tipsy with his loyal glass of red by his side, he was jet-lagged & utterly hilarious, i loved it, we all did.

i went to Metropolis to talk with them about mastering THiS GiRL but i may end up mastering & pressing it in Oz instead so product remains ‘australian’. Representatives from the Australia Council have said the product is not Australian - go figure, even though producer & arranger / pianist Chris is as ozzie as they come & composer / singer - me - is ‘sometimes australian’ too (well i have lived there all my life, own a home & a business there). all the posters & fliers here say ‘FREYjA Australian Fleur de Jazz’, they are getting free publicity through our creative work here. There is nothing un-Australian about my projects at all.

tried to set up a meeting with a big management company based in London. Nothing solid has come of this yet.

this sojourn/ adventure is not short of it's own let downs & shortcomings, let me tell you, but they mostly happen in London, not Paris. so i am always glad to come home to my big pastel lover of a country town where everyone in the shops greets you with 'bonjour' & the oh la la so oh la la french waiters (a school of fish? a flirt of Parisian waiters!) flirt their way around these quintessential cafes which overflow on the cobbled pavements of pareeeee

so inspired. stay up all night writing songs. have written a whole new album & ready to record the next

Well Paris was even prettier in the snow. London is cold. And that is all I have to say about the matter!

Poet ANDREW ZAWACKI did a reading at the Red Wheel Barrow in Paris - Please you all must read "Credo"
"By Reason of Breakings" was his first anthology.
Nothing short of genius. Moving, funny & just a bit smart, like (from his new book Ana Branch):

The sea has not fallen
The sea has not fallen
(Offstage whisper)
The sea has not fallen

JACQUES BREL (A fascinating site on Brel's life & credo)

"Since the package of life never comes without despair, losses, and, ultimately, death, why not" Brel asks "live life as if it were a game which, because it is rigged, cannot be played seriously?"

LETTER

Reading a novel in a sushi restaurant in Paris, as one does. Just one page before the end I feel it come on…….the shocking impact of this story I am reading about the disappointment in one man and one woman’s life. In this novel we arrive at the beginning of their story in the last few pages, the chronology has been related in reverse and here we are, at the start of the inevitable unraveling of a life.

Dreams wiped out in one fatal moment, never to be salvaged. I am on the verge of tears…it is unexpected … overwhelming, the profound understanding I have of what this man is about to lose. It resonates with so many parts of me that I cannot not hold on to myself. I put the book down, suddenly, urgently….I will not allow myself to break down in this intimate, quiet, public room

The other me stares out at the pastel landscape that is Paris, forcing everything within her down, holding it all down, willing the city to numb her through as the cold had done outside only half an hour ago beneath the whispering snowfall but…

…a drunk clochard sways past the window, slowly, and searching, for food? or an explanation? who will ever know, probably both; a tourist gazes about her with eyes broadening as dry sponges will, soaking up the new wonder of this romantic citadel; some dutch dialect wags off in the corner reminding me of other worlds so beyond my heart-ache and the muse I constantly yearn for; an old dog pees on his, no doubt frequented, centuries old cobblestone...

I imagine me 10 years on, sitting in the same café, adoring this very same landscape, and everyday with old and new eyes, through this me & that me, at this cityscape which will change and will not change, as Paris seems to do; clocking daily the same habitual life I am etching here; content & melancholic in someone's solitude that seems to be mine.

I sit, I gaze, I wonder at the grand plan that finally seems to be revealing itself. I wonder if I will carry the same sense of gratitude along side me in 10 years. Grace. Once I myself have lost but many of those dreams, people & loves that we are destined to lose over time…will I be ok then? Will I still walk with Grace? Do I walk with Grace now? Will I ever feel this complete & safe with my friend again? Friends Grace & I?

As for the grand master plan, I figure, we never know until our final curtain if such a thing exists at all, perhaps not even then? but it is not just will that has me believe it is so. I sense it in my life now, for everything come before has brought me here, & here is fine, it will do afterall.

This novel reminds me that every grand plan gets cut off by death. From there it is passed on to those who live on and beyond, in one way or another…

…from the memory of a child who grows into a woman or a man
in the story of a song
lessons learnt & passed on
in the smile shared unexpected, unasked
in the love made
and love moved on
in the hand reached out & just in time
that hand never forgotten though only recalled in the silent corner of solitude….

Paris makes me feel. Her sensuality is not skin deep. She gives me time to recall, to process and to choose my own brand of melancholy which is not a debilitating one but yet another unborn piece of art waiting to feel its way into life.

Paris is a longgggg love story. I am excrutiatingly content and my creative life is more fullfilled than it has been in many years.

Took a wonderful ambling bike ride around the streets all afternoon & well into the evening. There was a brasilian parade down the street behind the pompidou centre & there i sat on a high wall watching it stream by, the clave pulsing its way through the bones of this town, as I ate the freshest felafel have ever had.

Popped some fruit & veggies in my basket & pedalled home to my humble studio pad.....the affair I am having is with this city....not a man but a beautiful old-world inspired lit-up friendly fun classy city!

That's all from me this week.

I simply cannot leave just as yet there are too many potential opportunities for me & I am so happy here & so artistically understood. It is too fulfilling a life here for me to turn my back on.

I do all my shopping on my pushbike, as I did when I lived in Japan & I rode daily to the studio over La Seine & straight past Notre Dame - yes it seems all very glamorous & romantic. I have a gorgeous little studio flat on the top floor of an old building in a terrific district, it will be very hot up there in summer but I have lots of light & windows for air & flowers & herbs will grow well in my window pots in summer.

Living simply & writing lots. I have access to a piano across the courtyard & am surrounded by like-minded musicians, poets, philosophers, writers, designers, painters, comedians. actors.....my life is rich with creativity.

I have been brainstorming with people here & trying to put a team together to release the CD in Europe, US & of course Oz. I have been given personal introductions to 4 major record companies. Such promising signs & just one of the many tells showing me that the universe has finally got me back on my truest path.

The new CD is finished!
It is called "This Girl".
It is very acoustic, minimalistic, intimate & often rather quirky album. Myself singing with an extraordinary trio plus guest accordion on one track, cello & trumpet on a few
The track list is as follows:

1 All in Grey - by Rebecca Rennie (inspired by the death of her Greek gardening neighbour in Sydney)
2 Les Coeurs Tendres - Jacques Brel
3 This Girl's in Love with You - Burt Bacharach
4 Dont Let the Sun Catch you Crying - as performed by Ricki Lee Jones & Jose Feliciano
5 Seventh Son - Mose Alison
6 L'eau a la Bouche - Serge Gainsbourg
7 Nature Boy - Eden Ahbez
8 La Chanson des Vieux Amants - Adapted in to English by Rebecca Rennie
9 Right to Cry - Mose Alison
10 Summerfly - Trad. Irish folk song
11 Fold Your Hand - by Rebecca Rennie
12 Bye Bye Mon Bel Ange - translated into French by Rebecca Rennie & Alex Duchateau
13 Here's to Life - Shirley Horn

LETTER FROM FREYjA WRITTEN NOVEMBER 2004 ABOUT THE PARIS PROJECT

So many people here have asked me, why I came to Paris to record my next album...

....where the seed for this project was planted? I cannot pinpoint exactly where it began...all I know is that these ideas started to float around me...they came in from every angle...old friends...books landing in my lap....a dandelion on a breath of air... they would waft past me just near enough for me to see them before me but never settling long enough to catch them in my hand. There are so many incidents I recall...old friends started suggesting I go to Europe & from there, everything in the universe seemed to push me toward the old continent again... the place of my forefathers'/mothers' roots

So I got it in my head to record in Paris & once the decision was made, everything, but everything! moved aside for me to allow this surge of passion to be realised. What a conspiracy!

This has been a trip about long lost friends on many fronts. I got back in touch with Chris Cody after many years, (we have sinced discovered that we sat in the same french classes at Sydney Uni in the eighties but did not meet till many years later.) We have our Bronte connection & many old friends in common.

After listening to his self-penned albums, of which there are 4, I was awestruck by his talent & moved by his music. It has become a back drop for so much of my writing here in Paris & I am penning some lyrics to a couple of his beautiful melodies. Songs about Paris, they will have to be I think, for I too have fallen at her feet, likes thousands before me. It is an honour to work with a talent such as his. I have great respect for him

The first time I ever sang with Chris Cody was at the Caveau des Oubliettes. An old dungeon where hundred of years ago prisoners waited knee deep at times in water shackled & awaiting their impending death sentence to be carried out. There is grafitti on the old stone walls which say as much. What a crowd these tiny clubs attract!! They are full to the brim with keen young people who pack themselves into such smoky cellars to listen to jazz. We did Seventh Son (Mose Allison tune I have been singing for years) & ever since that night, he has basically insisted that we include the track on the album

So much preparation went into the material before we actually got to sit at the piano together in any kind of rehearsal set up. As I had been encouraged to do, I arrived here with a very strong set list of what songs I wanted to record & thought it would be as simple as that. Not so. Chris discouraged a few of the numbers, quite adamantly, said they were too connotative for the market here & so I set about trying to replace 3 songs. We are still wavering on the decision to do Ne Me Quitte Pas

He encouraged me to do another one of my songs & so we are doing All in Grey which was written for the Greek gardener who lived next door in Sydney & with his life gone, so too disappeared a multi-tiered vegetable plot that I am unlikely to ever see the likes of again out of my window in Australia!

We have also translated Bye Bye Angel & I will be singing that one in French

We are doing a very sexy song by Serge Gainsbourg....after listening for days to everything Gainsbourg has written I finally decided this was the one. It is going to be a fairly serious & mellow album so it will be nice to do something a bit saucy.

There have been many defining moments for me, in this journey with Chris particularly, who has taken on the role of producer, co-ordinator, pianist, arranger, humourist & nurse maid! (I had an run-in with an oversized door-handle & ended up in a sling for a week). Many hats he has donned - not to mention the least of which - he is a brand new father to beautiful girl named Maya with his wife Helene - the biggest hat of all! & yet with all that stress & delirium he has been the consummate Saggitarean (love that club! note Miroslav Bukovsky was a member, as are my close friends Miranda Otto & my mum) & taken on the project with a great sense of adventure & fun!

After weeks of gathering charts & lyrics & translations we finally we sat down together at a piano for a rehearsal, we were deciding whether or not to do the song This Girl's (sic!)in Love with You . He started playing a very sparce accompaniment & when I started singing to it with the only way I could in response to his light touch as sparce a vocal as I could muster, he told me that he had goose bumps, which is something every singer wants to hear from their listeners, let alone a fellow musician.

Next in line, we rehearsed La Chanson Des Vieux Amants & as Chris swept up & down the piano in his classical way with light arpeggios I felt the tears surge up inside me & could not contain it. "Was it something I said?" he asked as i ran off to the bathroom for a tissue in tears "Dont you like what I am playing" we laughed & I knew....this was the only man for the job!!

After our first band rehearsal with Double Bassist - Bruno & Drummer Xavier - I knew for sure this was going to be an especially touching project. I cant believe how lucky I am to work with such sensitive magicians! Once the cello comes in & we overlay the trumpet/ flugelhorn & in places a touch of acordion (but ofcourse what woudl a recording in Paris be like without a touch of that!?) it will be a dream come true. Looks like the mix should be finished end of January. In the meantime there is a lot of work to do, alot of french, alot of translations sitll underway & many arrangements to co-ordinate.

I now have the utmost faith that we will do justice to the writers we are covering, including those of - Brel, Gainsbourg...

Living in Paris has been an experience beyond my dreams. It has been crazy at times...there is such passion in this city...everyone I have met is attentive & supportive of anything & everything to do with the arts.They sit back & listen to eachother play the piano even when ahem! moi! plays abhorently on a belly of Pastiz! (sp)

There is a classicism here that touches me very deeply. I share an passionate appreciation for Bach & Chopin with many friends here that I spend time with. Alex Duchateau has brought me into her world with open arms...this project would not have been realised in the same way without her...she along with many in the community here do everything in their power to make sure I meet people in my industry & am hosted warmly in their city of love

75000 Project is well underway. Though I still havent moved past this working title, I know that the title of the album & ultimately the right musical choices, will flow into my life with the same love as everything else has on this project so far

Inspired
Rebecca x