Arthur H: L’Abondanse
H, the son and nephew respectively of eccentric singers Jacques Higelin and Brigitte Fontaine, is something of a musical lacuna himself. Throughout the course of thirteen albums, the Frenchman has pinballed between jazz, rock, pop and disco and on L’Homme du Monde his latest effort he’s done all of them.
Looking like the bizarre offspring of Joe Strummer and Columbo, H sidled loose-limbed onto the stage in a shiny gold jacket several sizes too small. He was instantly recognisable as the comic book kid who dances without care or co-ordination at school discos, going full circle with uncool and winding up cool. Everything in extreme contrast. A rasping, chalky voice and a rabid, cartoon falsetto; a sense of humour and serious funk.
Despite occasional minor slips, H’s band was game enough to rise to the occasion. The bassist (as in double and guitar) and drummer were tight, keyboard and electric were inventive and effective. Though many people in the crowd took time to “get” H, he managed to get two encores out of them.
And he was comfortable in his monologues, joking about Belgian liquidity, singing the Marseillaise and coming onstage midway through his set in a terrific super hero suit as seen in his video for the shameless I Wanna Dance With Madonna. Arthur H clearly has the balls to experiment in pop, even if his suit shows a bit too much of them.
