Chanteuse

I remember being about eight or nine years old when I met my cousin's girlfriend, Rachel, for the first time. She drew pictures and had long hair and a really awesome leather satchel and I thought she was SO COOL. Fourteen years later, and I'm still struck by how COOL I find these types of women. Cool! What does that even mean? I'm impressed and amazed and suddenly become timid when it's time to talk. Who knew I would lose my own cool?

I saw a little show last night with my roommate and another assistant at a local bar. It was supposed to be a band, or a duo, or something, playing on stage for the night, but at the last minute everyone dropped out and the lead singer, a woman with (surprise here) long hair, a flowy skirt, awesome jewelry, and a guitar, ended up playing alone. She was a Gallic Fiona Apple, singing about "les fees du vent" (fairies of the wind) and crooning, telling the audience that "je chante pour toi" (I'm singing for you).

She also did something that I've only seen one other band (TV on the Radio) do on stage -- record loop tracks on the spot. I'm sure this isn't hard to do, and that my limited exposure to it is directly related to what bands I've seen. Nevertheless, it was awesome. For one song, she said she needed the audience's help, and started blowing into the microphone and snapping her fingers. Some people in the front row started blowing too, making a sort of rustling, crackly autumn sound. She'd been recording the whole time, of course, and this little improv nature soundtrack played behind her throughout the whole song. It was incredible. She did this with a bunch of other tracks, too, providing her own percussion, harmonies (she would record the same tune twice and just harmonize with her recorded self), and twitchy nature sounds like the one above.

And I can't really explain why, or how, I felt so in awe of this woman. "Awe" is a tricky word, even -- I felt like a little kid, watching her favorite cartoon character do something incredible on television while illogically (but no less passionately) wanting to be their best friend. (I felt this way about Nala from "The Lion King" when I was little, so this is not really just a simile.) Such a cool chick! All I can do is give her a thumbs up. I think I'm in love.

Listen, look, and translate into English: Alifair.