{"id":1192,"date":"2022-07-26T19:15:53","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T19:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bumblefest.com\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2022-08-02T19:07:29","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T19:07:29","slug":"gal-musette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumblefest.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/26\/gal-musette\/","title":{"rendered":"GAL MUSETTE"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GAL MUSETTE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Working the piano, and the open mics and music halls of her hometown of San Clemente, Calif., Gal Musette <\/b>arrived with an act of true brashness: She topped The Magnetic Fields<\/b>\u2019 \u201c69 Love Songs<\/b>\u201d feat with her own collection of 70 songs \u2014 when she was 14.<\/p>\n

Musette\u2019s rise as a baroque pop prodigy and talented chanteuse isn\u2019t beholden to one-upping darlings of indie pop, but it didn\u2019t hurt. Like the bygone scene that inspired her pseudonym \u2014 \u201cbal musette\u201d is nostalgic accordion music played in French dancehalls more than a century ago \u2014 she evokes an older world. And that is what really caught the ear of such luminaries as the Fields\u2019 Stephin Merritt<\/b>, who she opened dates for on tour, and Rufus Wainwright<\/b>, who she duetted with on record.<\/p>\n

Now in her 20s, Musette \u2014 who will be performing at Bumblefest<\/b> \u2014 tells PureHoney<\/b> that her early listening was twofold. \u201cMy mom is a French professor so we listened to Fran\u00e7oise Hardy<\/b>, France Gall <\/b>and C\u0153ur de pirate<\/b>,\u201d says the musician born Grace Freeman<\/b>, \u201cwhereas my dad is broader in his taste, from Bj\u00f6rk<\/b>, to Emmylou Harris<\/b>, to the psychobilly of the Cramps<\/b>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was younger,\u201d she says, \u201cI couldn\u2019t play an instrument so I danced, but I always loved being a part of the music more than anything. Once I started playing piano and discovered I could not only be a part of the music, but actually write it, that changed the game for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her own cited influences range expansively from Nina Simone<\/b> to The Cure<\/b>. Add in the Irving Berlin<\/b>-inspired piano training her grandfather gave her, and Musette encompasses the melancholic sweetness of bossa nova, the grandiosity of show tunes and the sobering straightforwardness of folk \u2013 in one mellifluous movement.<\/p>\n

Her 2021 debut album, \u201cBackwards Lullaby<\/b>,\u201d explored romantic hopelessness and more ethereal questions of reality and acceptance over sweeping guitars and classical piano elements that elevated her beautiful vocals. Wainwright was her duettist on the acclaimed single, \u201cOlive<\/b>.\u201d<\/p>\n

She credits the album\u2019s producer, Jon O\u2019Brien<\/b> of Music Box Studios<\/b> in Fullerton, Calif., with helping to shape the collection into a cohesive unit of songs that stand by themselves but work as a satisfying sequence. \u201cSince the songs were written over a range of many years and within different phases of my songwriting,\u201d Musette explains, \u201cJon took special attention to bring instrumental themes throughout that kept a darker song like \u2018Julia<\/b>\u2019 in the same world as a dreamier, upbeat tune like \u2018Honeymoon<\/b>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Her sophomore album, \u201cPendulum<\/b>,\u201d slated for release within the next year, features Michiganite French ye-ye pop singer and one-woman orchestra Via Mardot<\/b> \u2014 Musette\u2019s recent collaborator on an EP of \u201cBackwards Lullaby\u201d reimaginings \u2014 and the Detroit-based drummer, percussionist and producer Adam Schreiber<\/b>. Whatever that future brings, it promises to be sweet, melodic and true to Musette\u2019s unique form.<\/p>\n

Gal Musette plays Bumblefest Friday, Sept. 2 in downtown West Palm Beach. <\/b>bumblefest.com<\/b><\/span><\/a> ~ Abel Folgar<\/b><\/p>\n

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