Strings swirl. A flute drifts like a bird floating on warm air. The melody is subdued, its tonality evoking The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let me Get What I Want.” A wistful, French-accented voice sings “I’ve always been so cruel, Hard on myself, You say I’m just a fool, Trying to be somebody else.” Mood set with opening track “Bluer Than Blue,” How and Why subsequently showcases nine more similarly moody, acoustic-centred songs.
The dreamy, slightly husky, voice is recognisable. Since 2003, Mélanie Pain has been a main vocalist with France’s Nouvelle Vague, Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux’s endeavour dedicated to recording and performing archly bossa nova-esque, acoustic-framed versions of songs from the new-wave and new-pop eras. On Nouvelle Vague’s last album, February 2024’s Should I Stay Or Should I Go? – its title track the Clash song – Pain featured on reinterpretations of Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell,” The Smiths’ “This Charming Man” and Yazoo’s “Only You. This long-running project tends to obscure Pain’s solo career, which kicked off with 2009’s pointedly titled My Name album.
How and Why is Pain’s fourth solo album, belatedly following-up 2016’s Parachute. Like its predecessor, all the songs – bar one cover – are self-penned. She is also the producer. The cover version is “Senden daha güzel,” a 2009 track by Turkey’s Duman. In its original form, its stop-start structure is similar to “Should I Stay or Should I go.” For How and Why, the song still sounds Turkish but has become lighter and jazzier. It swings. Elsewhere, Pain’s downbeat, yet glacially twinkling, “Cold Hands” is a duet with Calexico ‘s Brian Lopez. How and Why is nothing like the frenetic Kill The Pain, her recent duo collaboration with Phobe Killdeer.
As Pain is the writer and producer – neither of her last two albums were self-produced: a (male) co-producer or producer was present – it's possible to interpret How and Why as indicating that Pain is in control. Getting to the point of full self-determination has taken a while.
Beyond this knotty relationship to her biography as a singer and songwriter, How and Why stands apart as a lovely, frosty collection: one suggesting that Mélanie Pain has no need to be a guest voice on records by anyone else.
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