Clementine

Mosaiques (Small)
by Michael McCarthy

Clementine is another French artist who’s huge in Japan and virtually unknown in France. She sings in French, English, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. Probably even others, but those are the languages featured on the five albums I have (unlike Karie, Clementine does release more albums than singles). More interesting than the number of languages Clementine sings in is the number of genres. She’ll release a pop album in January and then a jazz album in June. And the next disc turns out to be old school Latin music. Yup, the lady is that diverse. I first discovered her through her one and only French release, a compilation called Mosa’ques. While there were songs I’d have to call jazz at the end of the disc, most of it was pop with jazz influences. When I next purchased Solita, I was shocked. I was expecting French pop, and most of it was English jazz. But Clementine has a soft, soothing voice that’s just wonderful for nighttime listening when you want to relax. So, I’d play Solita at night as I drifted to sleep and it really grew on me until I started listening to it again in the morning, and eventually the afternoon. I now have another three Clementine discs and plan to get more.