Blonde is the second album by Quebec singer, C?ur De Pirate, released on November 7, 2011 in Canada and on November 14, 2011 in the rest of the world.
The opening track of the second Coeur de pirate album, Leve les voiles, is both deceptive and highly appropriate. Sung by Les Petits Chanteurs de Laval and Les Voix Boreales, both made up of children and youths, the brief introduction to the album, while stirring, is musically incongruous. But with its scene-setting quest for a new destination, it introduces, lyrically, a theme of freedom and escape.

Coeur de pirate is the alter ego of Beatrice Martin, who penned 10 of the disc's 12 tracks and co-wrote the other two. While she has said the album is about relationships in all their phases, there are clearly plenty of cheatin' and breakup songs here. And the protagonist in these stories ? whether that's Martin or a stand-in once removed ? responds to emotional obstacles with assertive self-confidence.

That's also fitting, given that Martin continues to develop an enchanting artistic voice of her own on this sophomore release, which she co-produced with Howard Bilerman. Best of all, the vehicle she uses here consists of almost wall-to-wall pop gems that mostly evoke French ye-ye singles of the early to mid-1960s. If you like your confessional songs a bit angrier and rawer, or feel more at home when 10 seconds lapse between foreboding piano chords, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Thumping backbeats, brittle organ fills, chopping and twanging guitars and tuneful bass lines are the rules of thumb here ? as demonstrated on wonderful pop nuggets like Danse et danse, Golden Baby and Ava. There's even a fuzz tone on the mildly countryish Loin d'ici, on which Sam Roberts duets with Martin.

Martin astutely avoids over-emoting in the vocal department, too, sounding downright kittenish on tracks like Les amours devouees, with its hauntingly perfect melody, and the jangly, joyous-sounding Verseau (the troubled lyrics of which are less upbeat than the music). The subdued approach to singing is perfect, given the kid-next-door sound of the period records that seem to have inspired the album.

The album also holds back ? wisely ? on the arrangements, provided by Edmonton's retro expert Michael Rault. Some producers would have gone over-the-top orchestral on the strictly voice-and-piano Cap Diamant or the melancholy Place de la Republique, which sticks to subdued chamber-pop string adornment.

Only two albums into her career, Coeur de pirate makes few false moves. It would be a mistake to bet against her ultimately becoming a bona fide pop treasure. by Bernard Perusse, Montreal Gazette