Mélanie Laurent Enlists Damien Rice for Debut Album

March 6, 2011

Melanie Laurent Damien RiceIn addition to following up her breakthrough performance as Shoshanna in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds with high-profile film roles, such as the Mike Mills-directed Beginners, French actress Mélanie Laurent is set to showcase her singer-songwriter skills this year with a debut album, En T’Attendant. On May 2, Atmospheriques will release the 10-track LP, which was half-produced by Joel Shearer with 5 songs co-written and co-produced by Damien Rice. Speaking to Ireland’s Herald newspaper, Laurent described the unlikely Rice collaboration:

It’s a crazy story. I went to Woodstock [over two years ago] to record the album and I was unhappy with what happened there. I called my manager and asked him to call Damien Rice’s manager and organise something. I didn’t expect him to come, but he did, and we started to work together. I fired everyone and followed him to Ireland. He taught me everything about being a musician. I was a huge, huge fan, so it was weird for me to just speak with him like it’s natural…

We’ll have to wait a bit for a broader taste of the Rice-assisted cuts, which includes two duets, but today we have the Shearer-produced title track’s official video and the (possibly Rice-featuring) tune “Je Connais” below:

“En T’Attendant”

“Je Connais”

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