16th century French song by Pierre Certon

Paroles (English translation follows) 

La, la, la, je ne l'ose dire,
La, la, la, je le vous dirai !
 
Il est un homme en nos villes
qui de sa femme est jaloux.
Il n'est pas jaloux sans cause,
mais il est cocu du tout !
 
La, la, la, je ne l'ose dire,
La, la, la, je le vous dirai !
 
Il n'est pas jaloux sans cause,
mais il est cocu du tout ;
Il l'apprête et s'il la mène
au marché s'en va à tout !
 
La, la, la, je ne l'ose dire,
La, la, la, je le vous dirai !
--------
La, la, la, do not dare I say it,
La, la, la, I will tell you now!
 
There's a man who lives in our village
He is jealous of his wife.
He's not jealous without reason,
For he's not a handsome man!
La, la, la, do not dare I say it,
La, la, la, I will tell you now!
 
He's not jealous without reason,
For he's not a handsome man;
when his wife goes off to market
He follows by her side!
 
La, la, la, do not dare I say it,
La, la, la, I will tell you now!

Je le vous dirai

Mother sings her French lullabies 
Prolong each song, nighttime goodbyes 
Under cover, warm as July
Chalet blows down time after time.

Verses slow down my blinking eyes 
Chalet blows down time after time 
Reason or rhyme, we can’t devise 
Things were perfect back in July

Mother starts the song again
about the cottage that burned down. 
Pretty soon I leave my shell
for a sleeping stomping ground.

On a hill he built a house
now it’s airing out, and when it starts... 
Oh the cottage of his dreams!
The winds are wild, a wintry fight 
the crumbling walls go out of sight!
they’re filling up with light trying as he might
the winds are wild, fire turning white!
a wintry fight

Mother sings her French lullabies 
Prolong each song, nighttime goodbyes 
Under cover, warm as July
Chalet blows down time after time.

Mother Sings Her

Away From Home (Plumes Ensemble)

I believed I was traveling upstream back from home...

Spawning Ground

We’re overlooking the fire hazard,
this old building should have been torn down.

Oak barrels filled with wine stacked to the ceiling, now it’s just you and me, we’re living the dream.

Living in a fire trap, but we’re so happy, maybe too happy to take precautions...

Take your time, that’s what they say.
Love will burn and will decay.
To divide all my passion evenly seems old fashioned!

I’m forgetting all the years
I spent with someone else, well it seems like another life. 
Old journals disintegrating, stacked to the ceiling,
Now I can close the door, I don’t want more.
Living in a fire trap, but we’re so happy, maybe too happy to take precautions...

Fire crawling up the wire 
Looking forward to the harbour 
Getting out is getting harder 
Fire crawling higher, fire!

Take your time, that’s what they say.
Love will burn and will decay,
To divide all my passion evenly seems old fashioned!

Take your time, that’s what they say. Love will burn and will decay,
To survive, you must toughen,
Leave a crack in the oven!

Love and Overlooking the Fire Hazard

Oh - you serve it up, the greatest gift
Ah - crême brulée, surface scorched - perfect!
Oh - feelings return, soft center beneath the burn
I need a moment to behold it, hold it, h-hold it...
Oh, these busy starts, turn round and round
Blue sparks! What a lark

Golden Gourmande

You are the one stray dog in the Tour de France, making me swerve! 
My heart’s beating fast. I wonder if I’ll come in last!

You are the one wild strawberry on the vine to which I cling off a cliff ‐ 
A tiger waits above for me, and the vine is weakening.

My heart’s beating fast, I try to make this pleasure last!

Stray Dog de France

Veronica Charnley: voice, guitar
Sarah Niblack: viola
music by Charnley, words by Emily Dickinson

Lightning

Veronica Charnley: voice, guitar
Sarah Niblack: viola

Words and Music by Veronica Charnley

Jeanne

Veronica Charnley: voice, guitar
Sarah Niblack: viola

Music written by Charnley, words by Emily Dickinson

Say Sea, Take Me

Live recording from a Parisian garden, May 2018

Live recording in a Parisian garden, May 2018

Will There Really Be A Morning

Figure It Out

Plumes is a hybrid pop/classical group originating from Montréal, whose recent "homes away from homes" have included New York City and Paris. Singer/guitarist and songwriter Veronica Charnley, former frontperson for Canadian indie rock group Flotilla, is joined by musicians from diverse backgrounds, including composer and multi-instrumentalist Geof Holbrook, harpist Éveline Grégoire-Rousseau, drummer Karl Jannuska and an expanding cast of orchestral players.

On the group's eponymous full-length, released in July 2012, Charnley's inventive songwriting is supported by arrangements for string quartets, brass quintets, clarinets and violas, and even a full orchestra in a central eight-minute track inspired by the Greek myth of Hero and Leander. The record received glowing reviews from publications such as Exclaim! and NYC Deli Magazine, and it's been broadcast extensively on CBC Radio.

The band has toured across Canada, Germany, France and the U.S. They've appeared in festivals such as Wolfe Island Festival, Evolve, Ritornello Chamber Music Festival, NXNE, Brain Cave, and Hans Dampf Festival. 

They are currently mixing two albums, an indie-pop album that was recorded at Castle Rohrsdorf, near Dresden, Germany, in February 2014. The other, for chamber orchestra and voice, was recorded in Montréal at Mechanicland Studios in January 2014 and will be released under the name Plumes Ensemble. They're excited to share these two sides of themselves in concerts across Europe and North America in the coming year.

plumesic

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