Oui Gems

There are many reasons to love the French, from their tip-top edibles – such as macarons and baguettes, onion soup and cassoulet, and a ridiculous array of cheeses – to kooky cars, glorious fashion, the great Coco Chanel, situationism, existentialism, Plastic Bertrand, art, film and a stellar history of French song from Serge Gainsbourg, Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel – all cool cats with equally cool sounds.

With all of that unbelievable creativity – and gourmet edibles – to inspire, it's easy to understand why musicians already successful in their own bands such as Abby Dobson (formerly from Leonardo's Bride) and Lara Goodridge (from orchestral group FourPlay) might surrender to the haze of cool, and decide to form a French chanson covers band, calling themselves Baby et Lulu. Perfectly understandable, but not necessarily easy to get it right. 

Lucky, then, that both Dobson and Goodridge turn out to be proper Francophiles, both having spent time living in France, both being French speakers, and pretty decent with the old golden tonsils. Dobson explains that they're both deliriously happy with the project, loving the songs and being the ABC Album of the Week is just the cerise on the top of the patisserie. “This is a very beautiful project,” Dobson says happily. “It's lots of fun on so many levels, and so nice to work with Lara who is a great friend. It is also a real treat to be able to sing duets for a whole show – it makes every show so much fun to sing. It's always great to sing, but it's exquisite to sing with other singers.”

Dobson recalls the fortuitous meeting which brought Goodridge and herself together, long before Baby et Lulu were even conceived. “Lara and I met years ago, she saw me play at the Basement in Sydney, and she had a little label called Trading Records. I was about to record a solo album and she asked if I'd like to release on her label. Our fledgling relationship worked really well, and everything I did with her seemed effortless. After I signed to her label we developed a nice friendship by working together for a while.”

What they didn't know until much later was their shared obsession with all things French. “I've always loved French, and have learned to speak it. She also has [the] same love of French, and she has done her masters in French so she has a better grasp of grammar than I do, but we didn't know that until we were both in France. I was living there for six months a couple of years ago, and we were in Paris having lunch and she brought along an early 20th century French songbook,” Dobson recounts. “When I came back Sydney, she and her boyfriend were having a warehouse party and he suggested we do a French song at the party,” she giggles. “We got up on crates and sang a French song in harmony, and it was so exciting, and made us so happy, that when it was over, we decided we were having too much fun to stop now.”

Fast forward a couple of years and their party turn has now become Baby et Lulu, complete with costumes and a stage show, which not only still gives them a tangible pleasure, which can be heard in Dobson's voice as she speaks of the show, but has now given them a number-one album. “Every song is joyous, we dress up and carry on like idiots on stage, and this all seems to be a hit with our audience. We had people come up to us after our performances and say, 'We want to buy an album' so we made an album. Once again, this was a joy of a project, and has just gone number one on the Jazz iTunes chart. I've never been called 'jazz' before,” Dobson laughs incredulously.

Baby Et Lulu will be playing the following shows:

Saturday 8 September - Camelot Lounge, Marrickville NSW