Jessica Fichot

Le Chemin

Self-released

Released March 28, 2007

Score: C+

A clarinet, saxophone, flute, trumpet, toy piano, glockenspiel, double bass, accordion, drums and guitar aren’t just instruments you would find in a small, whacky orchestra. They’re all instruments Jessica Fichot, a French-Chinese-American singer-songwriter, and her band, use to create their music.

Fichot draws from her background in creating her music, down to the very cover of her album Le Chemin, which at first glance appears to be a Little Red Riding Hood scene, with pagodas in the background. The album cover reflects a morphing of Fichot’s two major cultures.

The album Le Chemin came out in 2007. The album opens with “”Le Grenier”” (or “”The Attic””) which sounds like a French pirate/gypsy “”Chocolat”” song — sorry no Johnny Depp this time. The album continues the almost carnivalesque feeling through “”1,2,3.””

The songs on the album are sung in French and English with some Chinese and Spanish thrown in. The track “”Le Velours et la Soie”” flip-flops between Chinese and French, with Fichot’s gypsy, Asian-inspired sound, proving to be a unique mash-up of the two languages and sounds.

“”Los Peces en el Rio”” is sung in Spanish, but the instrumentals lend a Greek-sounding twist to the song.

When Fichot shifts into singing “”I Will Wait for You”” or “”Dream / Les Yeux Ouverts”” the tempo slows in comparison to her faster, dance tunes. They aren’t as exciting as her French tracks.

Fichot’s album might be fun to listen to if you feel like pretending you know French … or Spanish … or even Chinese. But her French tracks are the most interesting musically, even if you don’t know the language.