By: Nora E. Lindner
Rating: 9/11

Lili Roquelin grew up on southern coast of France and has been propelling herself forward since childhood. She dreamed of coming to the US to have a music career and so far that is exactly what she has done. In the past, she sang with the pop-rock band Phizzy Lager and collaborated on an album with Hate Dies Hard. 

Now on her own, it’s hard to imagine that the artist needs anyone else. Crisp with talent, Roquelin is more accomplished than most people of any profession can ever hope to be — her entire album is produced, written, composed, arranged, performed, recorded, and pre-mixed by Roquelin herself. She also does her own PR and marketing.  

In fact, the only help she’s seemed to have had is from her dedicated fanbase: Roquelin’s first release, LiLi Roquelin (2008), was completely fan-funded. The music video for the EP’s single, “I Saw You,” won the 2008 Best Music Video Queens International Film Festival and 2009 Best Pop Music Video Indie Gathering Film Festival. 

Now Roquelin’s released her first full-length album, Will You Hate the Rest of the World or Will You Renew Your Life? (2010). The first track, “Come and Hear My Story,” is a literal invitation that from any other artist would come off as heavy-handed. But Roquelin, with Sarah McLachlan-esque grace, makes it all sound more appealing.  

The sliding dissonance and dense composition that follows puts her music firmly in trip-hop, where it settles deep. Complex ballads with lingering themes of love and loss fill out the 9-track album, all sung with that undeniably endearing accent. “How We Grow” is a music box waltz and “Give you My Love” is a poignant call for the return of an old lover. Violins composed by Roquelin and performed by Laura Kay give this song the profound coating of old folk tradition. 

Everything Roquelin touches she makes her own — even things she hasn’t created. Her cover of “Sally’s Song” (written by Danny Elfman for the Tim Burton cult-classic, A Nightmare Before Christmas) is nothing short of perfect. Always a haunting show-stopper, translated into French it becomes a song of grand devastation.  

 “Renew,” from which the album’s title comes, is a bitter operetta. Arguably the darkest song on the album, the first light grows with a hum of “I’ve been wondering, should I write about this?”          

Whether or not she regrets it, we’re glad she did. Will You Hate the Rest of the World or Will You Renew Your Life? is now available for purchase. The new music video for “Should You Get Mad” (premiered February 15) can be seen on Lili Roquelin’s official website.