<span>Carla Bruni, the former first lady of France</span><span>, returns to music with her first album in almost five years. </span><span><em>French Touch </em></span><span>is an album of covers, and fans of Nouvelle Vague will no doubt see this is as a release that pays homage to their quirky, clever brand of French re-engineering. </span> <span>She begins with an exquisite treatment of Depeche Mode's </span><span><em>Enjoy the Silence</em></span><span>, which proves to be the standout moment of a relatively thin album. What follows are cafe-style reworkings of songs by The Clash, Ketty Lester, The Rolling Stones, Abba and more. </span><span><em>Jimmy Jazz </em></span><span>is reimagined as, you guessed it, a jazzy, smoky speakeasy song; </span><span><em>Love Letters</em></span><span> seems like an early album filler; while </span><span><em>Miss You</em></span><span> is all breathy vocals and lo</span><span>-fi funk. Her take on </span><span><em>The Winner Takes It All</em></span><span> is better, although it is really hard to provide an upgrade on the original to start with. </span> <span>The rest of </span><span><em>French Touch</em></span><span> seems pretty standard fare. The song choices </span><span>aren't especially interesting or expansive – </span><span><em>Perfect Day</em></span><span>, </span><span><em>Crazy</em></span><span> (although this track does benefit from input from Willie Nelson) and </span><span><em>Moon River</em></span><span>, to name but three – and it all serves to underline that clever albums of covers are </span><span>very difficult to put together.</span> __________________<br/> <br/> <strong>Read more:</strong> __________________
