Face a Face

From heavy metal to rap and dance-pop, just about any style of music that has been embraced by English-speaking Americans has also been performed in France. Because of the language barrier, however, very little of France's popular music has enjoyed exposure in the U.S. — Americans know about Edith Piaf, but not many of them could tell you a lot about France's hip-hop, rock, or dance music of the 1980s and 1990s. In an ideal world, the language barrier wouldn't prevent non-French speaking audiences from enjoying Saga's debut album Face á Face, an intriguing pop-rock effort that manages to be sleek and bluesy at the same time. Evocative, poetic items like "Sax," "C'etait Pour Te Dire," and "L'ancien" don't actually have a 12-bar format — none of the songs do. Even so, the vocalist's love of both southern and northern blues comes through in a major way. Ironically, Saga uses the French language to paint vivid pictures of the U.S.— "Baton Rouge," for example, expresses the artist's admiration for Mississippi and Louisiana's blues greats, while "Indien" reflects on the history of Native Americans. A CD that is as unpredictable as it is unorthodox, Face á Face makes one hope that Saga is among the French artists to reach U.S. audiences.