The highly-accomplished singer/composer Lisa Papineau releases her Sargent House debut, Red Trees on May 4th. The album is the second solo venture from the active collaborator known for her vocal contributions to Air and M83, as well as writing with The Mars Volta bassist Juan Alderete de la Peña in Big Sir. The ever-active Papineau also works with soundtrack composer Tyler Bates, Japanese artist Jun Miyake, The Anubian Lights, Bron Tieman's Crooked Cowboy and countless other projects. Red Trees features guest vocals from singer/songwriters Matthieu Boogaerts and Mark Eitzel of American Music Club.
Remarkably, contending with multiple sclerosis in recent years hasn't slowed down Papineau's creative output. Relocating to France in the middle of the last decade, the myriad challenges she confronted served as inspiration to her muse. "Since I got sick," she explains, "there have been times when I can't speak, can't see very well, can't walk well, and am in pain that is so singular, there is no thinking that goes along with it, just being. It reminded me a little bit of what it was like when I first moved to France, of the very tunnel-like feeling I had not understanding most of what was being said, not being able to communicate in the flow in which I was normally accustomed. One leans harder into the connections with other people when you can't take the modes of expression for granted."
That sense of vulnerability helped inspire the sound and semi-lyrical approach of Red Trees. "I wanted to take a little leap off," Papineau says. "Something that felt more like being a newcomer who doesn't yet have the local language, or the person who struggles to get his tongue to work."
