Double LP with spiral design etched on D-Side. with CD included. Catherine Ringer needs no introduction. She's the woman who created an inimitable, genre-defying personality who, along with her group Les Rita Mitsouko, had a huge effect on the French pop music scene in the 80s right through to the noughties. In May 2011, she released her first proper solo album, Ring'n Roll. Ringer took the magic of Rita's roots but towards something with a more music-hall leaning at its core. After a breath-taking dalliance in Plaza Francia alongside two founding members of Gotan Project, whereby she stepped into the shoes of a tango dancer, oozing elegance and sensuality, Catherine is now back with a second album, Chroniques et Fantaisies. The larger-than-life record is a family saga played out over 12 musical sketches, from everyday nothings to life's biggest problems. Catherine goes from synths-y cosmic disco (like the opening track Senior with its comical lyrics), to dishevelled rock (Como Va), a steamy slow number (Intermittent Lover) and melancholic blues (Obstination). The album will take you from laughter to melancholy (the sublime Tristessa is a tribute to Fred Chichin), and it'll make you dance and cry. Whether she's singing in French or in English, Ringer's whole range of skills are on display, alternating from playfulness, troubled, melancholic, sweet and spicy, all with her added brazenness that we know and love so well. All that plus everything that makes Ringer so magical
