Beats: Dead Belgian – Love & Death: The Songs of Jacques Brel
"Beautiful & an idiot at the same time" - Sums me up! Dead Belgian are a Liverpool-based band playing the music of Jacques Brel . They began life in 2007, inspired to share Brel’s music with all who would listen. Each member brought their own influences to the band, from European folk to progressive rock, stripping the songs to their bare bones and fattening them up again using a ramshackle drum kit, ukulele, guitar, accordion, saxophone, mandolin, clarinet and flute. The album opens up with a wonderfully cheerful rendition of Madeleine . It really is wonderful… you find yourself immediately jigging along to the sound of the accordion and the saxophone. The vocalist is very talented and makes even the French language sound beautiful… the one language and accent I usually can’t stand. The second song is in English, it’s probably my favourite on the album; It’s called Au Suivant and it’s sombre as fuck which is hardly surprising considering tha...