HF unveiled her new album “Nature humaine” on its release July 31, 2020 on Equal Musik / Believe Digital.
We knew it, 2020 was a very disruptive year, one hard to cope with.
The artist HF wanted to bring the album Nature humaine to life despite the dramatic situation being experienced in the world of culture. Promotion for the album was postponed as the news of the pandemic came out. HF is on her way to her 6th album. So now is the time to introduce you to Nature humaine, before she gives us some fresh breath with her upcoming work “D’une mélancolie…” slated for release in the fall of 2021.
With “Nature humaine”, HF gives us her fifth album in French in her own image: generous, harmonious and unclassifiable.
SOUL TRILOGY
Following her early forays into French chanson and electronic music, Hélène Félix, aka HF, established herself as an endearing and atypical figure on the French soul-funk scene with her debut album Keep The Face, released in 2007.
While her simplicity, her discretion and androgynous allure break from the glamour and glitter so typical of soul divas, it is her talent as a singer songwriter-performer and multi-instrumentalist that keep one’s attention.
HF champions a certain idea of black music. Organic and timeless, against the tide of highly- formatted super-productions and artificial special effects. On Keep The Face, all the songs are self-composed and sung in English, with a fully assumed French accent. HF brilliantly kept the ball rolling with two more albums in the same vein but with increasingly fresh confidence on each one: Feeling in 2008, followed by Good Times in 2011.
NATURE HUMAINE
Nature humaine, the fifth installment in her recording adventures comes eight years after the release of her last album under the name HF. A While English might act like a filter between her emotions and her pen, singing in her native tongue allows her to express herself in the most sincere way possible. Musically, the singer sought to broaden her horizons by drawing inspiration from those who influenced her, such as Gainsbourg, Nougaro, Balavoine, Cabrel, Berger and Jonasz.
Nature humaine blends the most eclectic influences and reads a bit like an overview of her career. The soulful sensuality of her previous albums is still very present and her early love for French chanson rises back to the surface. Her arrangements are always very aesthetic, her melodies often melancholic, her warm, sensual voice gets stripped down and rediscovers itself through the language of Molière. Here bass and rhythms are always groovy. The album that HF gives us is both her richest and her most personal. A record that is just like she is. Generous, harmonious, unclassifiable, in her own image.
