Cœur De Pirate - En Cas De Tempête, Ce Jardin Sera Fermé (2018) CD-Rip

One doesn't need to speak French to understand what Cœur de pirate is saying on her new album, En cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé. The emotion in her voice and delicately beautiful melodies say it all. For the sake of it, though, the title translates to: "During storms, this garden will be closed" — a double meaning that serves as both caution and preservation, and represents the turbulent narrative taking place on the record.

En cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé is Cœur de pirate (born Béatrice Martin)'s fourth album and also marks the tenth anniversary of her career. Singing entirely in French, Martin sounds liberated and raw as she opens up intimately about things like unhealthy relationships and self-destructive habits. That she nearly gave up music altogether in a stressful year preceding the album also contributes a clear conviction in rediscovered passion on this milestone.

From the stirring first track "Somnambule," piano, strings, and gentle arrangements seamlessly link each song together and generate a natural ebb and flow of sentiment. Album highlights include the bright "Amour d'un soir" and last song, "De honte et de pardon," which, painfully poignant with gorgeous instrumentation, translates to "shame and forgiveness" — an apt conclusion to En cas de tempête, ce jardin sera fermé and, more largely, a beginning to a new chapter in Martin's life.