Sarah Toussaint-Léveillé

Sarah Toussaint-Léveillé (daughter of French comedian François Léveillé) has been quietly winning over Quebecers for quite some time. A few online videos, some festival performances and making the semi-finals at this year's Francouvertes were the perfect springboard for her release of La Mal Lunée. Her impressive debut has drawn comparisons to Béatrice Martin (Coeur de Pirate), but where Martin loses some of us with her affectations, Toussaint-Léveillé gains ground with her genuinely quirky and down-to-earth persona. She nails the perfect mixture of French chanson and indie-folk, spinning whimsical poetry, beat boxing and the usual instruments (ukulele, accordion, Wurlitzer and vibraphone) into enchanting compositions. Her cynical and self-deprecating lyrics, spiked with tongue-in-cheek wit, work their magic to capture teenage angsts ("Une Laideronne Sous la Pluie") and adolescent petulance ("La Plume Qui Craint"). On first single "Petite Soeur," Toussaint-Léveillé is the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. Here, the drum playing, guitar-wielding pixie dares give advice to a feisty, screwball younger sister. La Mal Lunée includes three English language tracks that fail to reflect the word-weaver's skills, but it's just the reason you need to brush up on some French.