Les Quebecoises

Ever since I stopped by Natashka's two weeks ago, I'm hearing all this great music from Quebec. Did she put a Montréal spell on me? Dunno, but if so, merci bien ;-)
Here's a few examples:

There are a few Lapointe's active in music (Pierre, Nate, Jean, Jacob), but to my knowledge they're not related. Stéphanie Lapointe (pictured) is a gorgeous fragile looking blonde who won Star Academie (kind of Pop Idol) in 2004, and debuted with a nice album in 2005, Sur le Fil. Bit folky, mostly acoustic, and that husky but strong voice. She was, and still is an actress too, in films and plays. Her website says nothing about a new album, alas. [Clip]

Stephanie Lapointe - Nous Sommes
Stephanie Lapointe - Dis-moi

Marie-Annick Lépine is (was?) a member of Les Cowboys Fringants, according to Wikipedia a cultband who play neo-traditional Quebec folk, with country-influences. She plays the violin, and sings. Some songs on her debut-album Au Bout du Rang (2007) have a kind of Riverdance-ish rhythm, others are more hushed. With country influences too, so I am not quite seeing why she wanted to do a solo album. Anyways, she has a really sweet voice, bit like Françoise Hardy.

Marie-Annick Lépine - Si je ne t'aimes
Marie-Annick Lépine - Cette jolie photo d'elle

When reading about Anik Jean, you come across some big names. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave-fame played on her first album Le Trashy Saloon (2005), Jack Endino (Nirvana, Bad Religion) and Mark Needham (Fleetwood Mac) produced. It's an album featuring upbeat popsongs, soundexperiments and heavy blues. She once played at a Rolling Stones-party, a band that's one of her big influences. Anik sings and plays guitar, I guess that's her soloíng in Haine.

Anik Jean - Haine
Anik Jean - Pense à toi