WOELV
Issue #34
Tout Seul dans la Floret en Plein Jour, Avez-Vous Peur? (K)
By Anne Johnson
Published: December 1st, 2007 | 4:03pm
Quebec-born Geneviève Castrée found herself living in a place she never thought she would live — the United States — when she relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 2005. At first she was shocked, but Castrée realized she had a lot of questions she wanted to explore instead. The resulting project, WOELV, features Castrée’s many talents: musician, poet, and comic book artist.
Castrée recalls Cat Power’s Moon Pix with its somber guitar and please-don’t-hurt-me vocals. Anarchist punks Crass’s influence is also heard by way of planes flying overhead and weighty subject matter.
Tout Seul is sung entirely in French but was translated into 13 languages. Castrée even used the Koran and an Arabic-English phrasebook to create “Sous Mon Manteau.” The most effective songs — “Drapeau Blanc,” “La Petite Cane dans le Nappe de Petrole,” and “La Mort et le Chien Obese” — dolefully convey the sense of urgency she is wishing to impart. Castrée’s drawings, which recall the work of fellow Quebecer Julie Doucet (Dirty Plotte), accompany the lyrics and are appropriately gloomy and vivid.
Tout Seul takes on that which is difficult to think about, and consequently it’s not always pleasant to listen to either. To be honest, it’s a downer, but this is Tout Seul’s point, and Castrée offers hope in her quest to find other like-minded individuals. She asks, “Are we looking for someone to assure us indefinitely that we are on the right path and that we have nothing to blame ourselves for? WOELV provides the dose of tough love that many of us need.
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more