La Ligne Orange

La Ligne Orange offers contemporary folk straight from the Orange Line of the Montreal Metro system. Mes Aieux have been known to use older regional folk styles instinctively while singing about modern urban issues. That juxtaposition lies at the core of their sound and their success. To non-Francophiles, the songs themselves may not mean much, but the music is put together well enough that there's some aural interest regardless. The music borrows heavily from Roma formats, from drinking songs, from modern chanson stylings. At the same time, the lyrics speak of Montreal's long-lingering Olympic debt, Internet addiction, and local stars from the busking scene, among other things. There's a lot of local-interest content in the lyrics, then, but the music can transcend the locale somewhat. Musically, Mes Aieux aren't terribly far from some of the nouveau singer/songwriter works coming out of France and Quebec alike (for example, those on the Putumayo French Cafe album or the Quebec compilation), but there's just enough punch packed here to give it a raison d’etre. ~ Adam Greenberg