Coeur de Pirate, the artistic moniker Francophone musician Beatrice Martin baptized herself with, was supposed to play The Banff Centre last year, but with floods, becoming a new mother and releasing her first English record Trauma (cover songs from the Radio-Canada series) she says timing is much better this time around to get the chance to take part in the Centre’s summer festival series.
Martin’s fame and recognition has only grown in the last year, thanks in part to her first English release, touring and for her musical contribution to Montreal’s Ubisoft videogame title Child of Light’s soundtrack. Her performance at the Shaw Amphitheatre on Saturday (July 26) is her sole performance before she heads to Europe to record her third album with several producers who were on her secretive “wish list.”
“I’m just really excited I get to come out west again. It’s rare I get to do it, so I’m really looking forward to it and I’m going to play some new songs,” Martin said. “I’m starting in two weeks to record in Europe, so it’s going to be a lot of fun and it’s going to be a stretch for me because for the first time I’m going to do something that’s bilingual,” the diminutive, 24-year-old, tattooed new mom said.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Quebec, but especially right now there’s this whole French/English debate; it’s a super old debate and it will never die and it’s fine.
“I feel people are going to see me in a different light, in a good way or a bad way, but for sure I’m going to be examined for this next record because I decided to go that way. I have a very simple reason for that; because I’ve been touring in the U.S. and the rest of Canada and I want people to understand what I’m talking about. Even though they listen to me in French and it’s fine, I just think it’s a natural thing for me to do right now – it’s a challenge, but we’ll see where it goes.”
Martin says her new material is an artistic stretch, but the main ingredients of her and a piano will remain intact. “It’s going to be something to present to everyone else soon. I was really on an English vibe for a little while and I wrote a little more in French and now it’s really half/half – it’s really great,” Martin said on the new material.
“I don’t know where I’m going with this, so that’s why it’s interesting to be working with producers, because then you can actually build a sound around whatever you’re doing in the first place. I wrote a song, just me and the piano, and I’m just so excited to see where that’s going to go because I’m working with people I’ve never worked with before.”
The rising star says she’s had a “wish list” of producers she’s always wanted to work with since her first record and was able to strike a few off the list for the upcoming record.
“It’s hard when you start out; you say, ‘Well I’m a new artist and I’m singing in French,’ and I didn’t have the money, all of that. It’s harder, it’s harder to back a newcomer and I totally understand, but this is my third record, so I had that and they (producers) kind of knew me. I guess people kind of know me because I’m famous in France or something, I’m known in French music. I don’t know why people know me.”
Martin says social media sources such as Tumblr and Pinterest have helped in spreading her talent and she chalked it up to her rising recognition.
“It’s interesting see these people wanted to work with me. This is crazy, these people have worked with some of the best and people I really admire and I hope I make it OK and I’m up to the task – that’s my main concern,” Martin said.
“It’s tough when you’re about to do a record. I know for me it’s like I’m going to give away the songs, they don’t belong to me anymore. The second you release a record it’s like you’re naked, there’s nothing to protect you and these songs that have meant so much to you now belong to everyone else, which is what’s great too.
“This is why I’m still playing music today and composing songs; because I know people can relate to these songs and that’s why I keep doing it. It’s a stressful process because I’m kind of a wreck and I’m kind of stressed and I want things to go smoothly and they’re my songs that I wrote. The song that you write is your whole life, it’s hard to give that away to producers to do whatever they want with them, but that’s what’s exciting too.”
The Pirate Heart says she has a better understanding of what she wants towards navigation from producers with her new material. “I did Trauma on my own with my guitarist,” Martin said. “I produced and arranged the songs and he did too, and I was always there, so now since it’s my songs I feel like I need somebody else to have a different input so those songs can evolve. I can’t do it on my own, otherwise there’s going to be no depth to it, it’ll be the same song, but it won’t have a fresh eye over it and that’s what I want.”
Recently, Martin was commissioned by videogame developers Ubisoft to provide the soundtrack for its new game (ironically) entitled Child of Light.
“I had just given birth and I really wanted to write and they (management) said, ‘OK but there are other people on the list but maybe they’ll pick you’ – and they did and that was crazy,” Martin said.
“I think it gets complicated when you have two kids; with one it can be managed. She’s great, she comes to concerts, but obviously I can’t be as impulsive as I used to be.
“I can’t just say, ‘Hey! I’ll go tour Australia for two months.’ You can’t really do that anymore, which is perfect, it’s great – it keeps me sane. I think it really changed me for the better, I’m a more patient person and I think you really need that when you’re a musician. She inspires me in so many ways. It’s kinda corny, but it is a wonderful thing and I’m really glad it happened to me now.”
Martin started piano lessons when she was three years old, and was asked if she would let her daughter follow mom? “If she asks me, ‘Mom can I play the piano?’ I’ll say, ‘Sure go see your grandma, she’ll teach you, I’m not going to teach you,” Martin joked. “My mom is a pianist so I’ll let her do it – oh yeah, grandma would love it for sure.”
