Julie Doiron - Canta en Español Vol. III

If you didn’t discover Julie Doiron’s music through such an improbable fact as the inclusion of one of her songs (“The Life of Dreams”) in the popular iPhone commercial, you will already know that the distinguished ex-bassist of psychedelic noise-pop band Eric’s Trip, has been publishing her solo works since 1996 which have driven her to a home-loving and intimate folk close to Bill Callahan or Damien Jurado.

With twelve albums (one of them awarded with the Best Alternative Album in the Canadian Juno Awards in 2000), Julie Doiron has become established as one of the most expressive and thrilling songwriters of her generation, thanks also to multiple collaborations with Mount Eerie (in the outstanding and emotional “Lost Wisdom”), Okkervil River or Herman Düne.

Spiced up with her prolific live curriculum participating in important international festivals such as Primavera Sound (2013 and 2017) or POP Montréal, her last LP in English, “So Many Days” (2012), went in even deeper into stories with an intimate weight and extreme sensitivity, just as if she was singing by your side, just as if she was whispering her songs into our ears. With the firm hand of Will Oldham in her songwriting and the ability to find treasures in simplicity like Nick Drake, Julie Doiron weaves bittersweet melodies which reveal sober tenderness and direct emotions.

What started as a homage (that limited edition 7” with translations of “Swan Pond” and “Yer Kids” in 2015) to those 60’s and 70’s vinyls in which well-known English and American artists dared to present their repertoire in a broken Spanish, and after “Julie Doiron Canta en Español Vol. II” (Acuarela Discos, 2017), “Julie Doiron Canta en Español Vol. III” is the third episode of a series-saga of adaptations into Spanish of many of Julie’s best songs and it is intended to extend to (almost) all of her repertoire in the next lustrum (and beyond).

Re-recorded and adapted to Spanish by Jesús Llorente (translator of Philip Larkin, Raymond Carver and Dennis Cooper, author of three poetry books and lyrics for Migala or The Wave Pictures) the intention was to try to find out how would have Julie expressed herself without using English or French, saying the same thing but with other words and staying true to her style.

In this new release, recorded in Carlos Ortigosa’s studio in Valencia, Spain, and backed up by her live band in Spain David Campillos an Javi “Galope” the improvement is more than noticeable. Julie Doiron reinvents herself and sings with charm, nerve, skill and with an almost perfect Spanish.

Here we find songs from different moments of her career. 5 interpretations of “Taller Beauty” (recorded with a band for the first time and transformed into “Belleza Aumentada”, a true indie-rock diamond of many carats), “Who Will Be The One?”, “Don’t Ask”, “Sorry (Part II)” or the doironian classic “Snowfalls in November”. It also includes “Thought Of You” (“Pensando en ti”), one of her most recent songs which has never been released in a physical format.

1. Belleza aumentada (Taller Beauty)
2. Pensando en ti (Thought of You)
3. Lo siento (Parte II) | Sorry (Part II)
4. No me lo pidas (Don’t Ask)
5. Cae la nieve de noviembre (Snowfalls in November)
6. ¿Quién será, será? (Who Will Be the One?)