Maybe it doesn’t do Clara Luciani justice to introduce her with a cover version of Metronomy’s The Bay when she’s already got singles out as fantastic as La grenade. Then again her take on La baie might represent the sound of her debut album Sainte-Victoire very well. Luciani’s first full-length is a bass-driven, energetic voyage led by the French singer’s pop-affine yet dark-soaked vocals. Being a part-time member of France’s grandiose art-collective La Femme, Luciani understands that versatility could attract an album’s appeal. However, she does that by impressive limited means as she always keeps an eye on her band that helps the singer taking her songs to the stage. Whereas La Femme’s oeuvre might give the impression of being overall ‘fancy’, the singer’s solo output in return seems a litte more majestic thanks to her outstanding voice. La baie follows that principle: Metronomy’s allegedly best single here is reduced to the core and turned more into an actual song rather than a work of art, remarkably propelled by Luciani’s crystal clear vocal performance. It’s a sad pop-cultural circumstance that French pop often is ignored outside its home country. Hopefully, Clara Luciani’s beautiful music helps fix this abstruse reality in pop music.