Julian Carax

Julian Carax (if that is his real name) is a French musician who happens to have the same name as a fictional writer in a best-selling book of fiction titled, The Shadow of the Wind. His new EP, Turnpike, boasts the song,"Under The Sun", and this is the Julian Carax song which makes me feel good. It's a strong melody, rising and falling, definite in it's pattern while the vocal is soft and nearly timid, although this is Carax's style, I believe. Another song of his, "Turnpike", is also very good... skittering drums, a repeating piano figure building tension, and strings swelling around the music. His vocals have an unmistakable European flavour, reminding me of many Swedish singers who record in English. And not surprisingly, perhaps, is the fact that he recorded this EP in a true studio setting in Sweden (all previous recordings were done at home). Maybe it's merely the sound of an accent being stretched and pulled, elongated to meet the demands of the melody. Whatever it is, it's appeal is evidenced by the many, many European artists finding success in North America today (in fact, his myspace page says he's moving to Canada in the near future, so he may join the swelling ranks of artists finding success). Julian Carax should be no exception, these two songs are strong pieces of indie pop that you should listen to and buy (the buy link is just below).

turnpike [mp3]
under the sun [mp3]
BUY the Turnpike EP

BONUS
Broken Translation, How high the moon, and the Lamest of stars EP, are Julian Carax demo recordings that can be downloaded for free here.

Find more Julian Carax mp3s.