Justine Blue – True
Self-Produced, 2022
13 Tracks; 52 minutes
French singer, Justine Blue’s voice is clearly influenced by both blues and jazz standards. She has a soulful voice with a subdued, emotional delivery that values emotion over powerful belting notes or vocal acrobatics.
Her self-produced, crowd-funded release, True, is an excellent example of that particular talent. Blue, who also plays ukulele and some keyboards, is joined by many exceptional musicians, including Toussaint Guerre on both keyboards and saxophone, and Enzo Taguet on guitar. The album contains 11 songs that are written or co-written by Blue, plus a unique, slower version of Johnny Otis’ “Willie & the Hand Jive” and a beautiful rendition of “Yellow Moon” by the Neville Brothers.
The first two songs on the album begin with just some restrained keyboards and the pure sound of Blue’s haunting voice. Throughout the album the focus remains on her beautiful tone and controlled expression, with a few well-placed, tasteful solos, such as the saxophone solos on “It Makes Me Feel Alright” and “Yellow Moon”, and the funky guitar solo on “Rock Me Baby”.
Blue’s an excellent songwriter, whether it’s a song about relationships, such as when she notes, “It’s not about you, it’s about my past,” or her powerful song about homelessness: “Walking down the street, all the poor people laying down on the ground. Early in the morning, they are still awake while the city’s asleep…and I know it should be easy to feel the weight of a changing world.” Her video of this song is especially well done and includes some brief footage of homeless people in France.
The only potentially weak areas on this album are that blues purists might hear much more of a jazz influence than a blues influence in most of the songs, and occasionally Blue’s French accent comes through strongly on certain words, leading to rather odd pronunciations. However, overall, this is a solid and very enjoyable album by this relative newcomer. Fans of outstanding vocal ability will be sure to look forward to future work by Justine Blue.
